Rolec EV to trial smart EV charging at almost 500 UK homes

Almost 500 Rolec EV smart charging points were installed on homes across the UK as part of the world’s first mainstream electric vehicle consumer trials.

The Consumers, Vehicles and Energy Integration (CVEI) study was carried out by the global centre for innovation in transport, TRL, utilising Rolec's WallPod HomeSmart range to provide nearly 500 mainstream consumers with real-world experience of using both Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) for their day-to-day journey needs.

Using the Rolec smart chargers, detailed live and historical information was gathered from the vehicles and via the Rolec cloud based back office, transferred to the management team for further analysis.

Kieron Alsop, MD of Rolec EV, commented: “It was really interesting and informative to be part of this pioneering and comprehensive consumer EV trial. Our charging points and back office recorded 15,700 charging events, across both domestic and public locations, which equated to approximately 584,000 miles travelled. The WallPod HomeSmart units were chosen for their compatibility with all EVs and PHEVs, and their integration with our robust GPRS connected back office platform.”

The project's objective was to inform UK Government and European policy, and to help shape energy and automotive industry products, propositions and investment strategies. In addition to developing new knowledge and understanding, the project developed an integrated set of analytical tools that can be used to model future market scenarios in order to test the impact of future policy, industry and societal choices.

The CVEI project was commissioned by the Energy Technologies Institute and led by TRL. Along with Rolec, other project partners included Cenex, Baringa, Element Energy, EV Connect, The Behavioural Insights Team, EDF Energy and Shell.