High Availability EV Charging Systems

ElectrAssure’s mission is to enable our clients to deliver their committed service levels after migrating to electric vehicles. The key is ‘availability’. High availability EV chargers ensure that your electric vehicles are available when you need them to deliver critical goods and personnel to their destination on time, underpinned by ElectrAssure’s full lifecycle of services
 
1. Survey
Analyse electrical supply capacity; test mobile data signal; plot cable routes; check ground conditions for trenching and bases for the chargers.
 
2. Design
Review client requirements; check constraints; select premium EV chargers, services, and components; design charging solution; specify load management and battery storage where necessary.
 
3. Installation
Agree project plan; complete groundworks; install EV chargers; electrical installation and certification; install data communication.
 
4. Commissioning
Commission EV chargers onto the charge point management system (CPMS), app and RFID cards; allocate unique charger ID and apply labels; set up load management system and battery storage.
 
5. Chargepoint Management
Help Desk; configure Chargepoint Management System; register drivers and RFID cards; monitor and manage the EV chargers; monitor performance of the system and log service tickets; record use of the charge points; invoice drivers as appropriate.
 
6. Maintenance
Call-fix maintenance to agreed SLAs; First Response training for local maintenance personnel; complete annual maintenance; monitor, report and review performance; identify and execute corrective actions.
 
We are hardware and software agnostic so each solution is tailored to our customers individual challenges, both now and in the future. Our main focus is on quality so we partner with the best software and hardware products in the market and our customers benefit from this. We have a proven track record in delivering both AC and DC charging solutions to commercial fleets. We don’t sub contract our work so we remain fully invested and responsible during the entire project. This ensures quality installation and consistency. Two things we value highly as a business.
 
Video: ElectrAssure Introduction video - YouTube
 
Case study National Grid:

In early 2021, ElectrAssure was selected by National Grid as the sole supplier for their 5 year programme to deliver and manage the EV charging infrastructure across their UK locations: 1,500+ chargers, 290+ sites. The first stage was ‘Mobilisation’, to prepare for the planned nationwide roll-out programme. This involved surveying the existing chargers, fixing any issues and rolling out a bespoke cloud-based Chargepoint Management System (CPMS). The CPMS registers drivers, monitors each charger and records user charging for billing purposes. It also allows most faults to be rectified remotely

The challenge:

National Grid had 160 EV chargers installed at their London depots and corporate sites across the country. Although the chargers in London had been recently installed, some had comms issues and could not reliably communicate with the CPMS. There were also problems with chargers at the corporate sites being obsolete; so spares and support were no longer available. The existing CPMS did not provide the level of monitoring and management reporting demanded by National Grid to facilitate timely maintenance and optimisation of resources.

The solution:

Following an initial audit of existing hardware and IT infrastructure, ElectrAssure actioned a series of workshops, preliminary submissions and trial implementations to fully assess the requirement. ElectrAssure’s surveys established that the London chargers had integral 2G modems. As most mobile operators were decommissioning their 2G networks, ElectrAssure connected the chargers to new 4G routers which resolved the comms issues. The chargers on the corporate sites proved to be at or close to their end of life. Some were initially retained but they proved very unreliable, so ElectrAssure swapped 17 of the existing chargers and installed an additional 24 Garo LS4 and GTBs, in line with the wider rollout programme.

Working collaboratively with both National Grid and Hangar 19 (supplier of the Park & Recharge CPMS), a bespoke implementation of the CPMS was tailored to National Grid’s individual needs. This included a mobile app and website for direct user access and a customised back-office system and helpdesk that ensured both usability and the required functionality. ElectrAssure established maintenance processes that satisfied all of the contracted SLA priority levels. ElectrAssure then transferred the management of all chargers to the National Grid Park & Recharge CPMS.

The Outcome

All existing chargers are now operational, with reported issues dropping by 65% – even though the number of National Grid EV drivers has increased exponentially. Key management information is now easily accessible to a hierarchy of different user groups. Those faults and issues that have been reported to the helpdesk have been cleared well within the SLAs. ElectrAssure and National Grid can now embark on the planned large scale EV charging programme, safe in the knowledge that this is underpinned by an efficient, robust and proven infrastructure.