Car manufacturers sign up to EV charging plans

A number of car makers have signed up to plans to create a charging task force to prepare for large scale adoption of electric vehicles (EVs).

The car manufacturers include Nissan, Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin, which have all backed the plans for an automotive utilities project, set up by electrical asset management company EA technology.

The proposal is also being backed by electricity distribution network operators (DNO) and the National Grid. The move has been prompted by results of long term EV neighbourhood trial My Electric Avenue (MEA), which saw clusters of EV users dotted about the country to examine how the electricity network could cope with mass EV charging at peak times.

Dave Roberts, director of Smart Interventions at EA Technology, maintained the taskforce was 'an essential next step in ensuring that EVs and electricity networks work in harmony to facilitate expected uptake’.

He added: “Critically, MEA has demonstrated that the automotive and utilities sectors need to work together. There is a crucial overlap between these two industries; the lack of capacity in some local electricity networks for EV charging needs to be addressed, and it is a cross-sector issue. Ultimately this initiative will work to ensure that the road ahead is a smooth one, for the future of the EV."

The results from the MEA showed that networks would largely be able to cope with extra demand placed upon them by charging EVs, but that further investment was still needed as EV uptake increases.

Given that a number of new plug-in models are due to be released in the next year, the demand placed on the national grid is only set to increase. However, it is expected that the infrastructure will cope with the increase for at least the next five years.

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