OLEV and Innovate UK offer £40m for electric vehicle charging projects

Up to £40m in grant funding is being made available to UK businesses to develop and demonstrate new ways of charging electric vehicles. 

The funding comes from the Office of Low Emission Vehicles and Innovate UK, which is part of UK Research and Innovation.

UK government’s new Road to Zero strategy sets out a vision of nearly all cars and vans being zero emission by 2050. A major challenge will be to grow the UK’s charging infrastructure quickly enough to make electric vehicles an attractive choice.

The OLEV and Innovative funding is split across two competitions:

• to support electric vehicle owners who don’t have suitable off-street parking to charge their vehicles in public spaces
• to investigate wireless charging options for owners of vehicles such as taxis, service vehicles and delivery vans

Electric vehicle charging for public spaces

This competition is looking for creative new designs and technologies that could offer significant, convenient and low-cost charging facilities to areas where people don’t have off-street parking. Ideas could range from providing on-street infrastructure to creating a community charging hub.

A series of feasibility studies will be selected for a first phase, with the best ideas receiving  further funding for large-scale demonstration projects in public areas.

Wireless electric charging

This competition focuses on new technologies that would allow commercial vehicles, such as taxis, service vehicles and delivery fleets, to top up their batteries during the day without having to stop to plug in.

Projects should look at commercially-feasible ideas and business models that would enable vehicles to be charged while causing minimum disruption to their business.

They could aim to show how wireless charging could be used by taxis in places such as stations and airports, or with commercial vehicles at major depots, hubs or delivery bays.

A series of feasibility studies will form a first phase. The second phase will fund the best ideas for large-scale infrastructure and demonstration projects on publicly or privately-owned roads and transportation or logistics hubs.

The deadline for applications is 29 August 2018