ev.energy wins £250,000 grant from Innovate UK

LONDON — ev.energy has been awarded a £250,000 grant from Innovate UK to deliver a 15-month pilot focussed on leveraging gamification features to encourage smart charging of electric vehicles in the UK.

National Grid predicts that there will be over 35 million electric vehicles on UK roads by 2050; this will cause significant disruption to the UK’s electricity distribution networks. Unless EV charging is managed, this surge in EVs could cost the grid over £2bn in upgrade costs by 2020 according to My Electric Avenue.

ev.energy’s platform manages EV charging across the grid by scheduling and optimizing charging times and loads, saving EV owners money by taking advantage of off-peak tariffs while saving the grid from over-congestion. Through a pilot project funded by Innovate UK, ev.energy will partner with Gen Game, an app developer, to integrate gamification features into ev.energy’s platform to maximise smart-charging behaviour amongst EV owners. Through the pilot, ev.energy and Gen Game aim to build a range of gamification features and test them across ev.energy’s UK user base, working with National Grid and UK Power Networks to measure benefits to the grid.

Nick Woolley, CEO of ev.energy, said: “National Grid have made it clear that managing EV charging will be critical to the UK’s low-carbon future. ev.energy’s platform works with National Grid, energy suppliers and vehicle/charger manufacturers to ensure that EV charging is managed in a way that saves users money, utilizes the UK’s abundant renewable energy generation, and minimizes stress on the grid. Our pilot with GenGame will help us test solutions that will help us grow our user base and ensure that a greater share of EV charging sessions in the UK are managed in a smart way.”

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