As part of the Innovate UK funded EV-elocity project, WMG at the University of Warwick has installed three eNovates Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) chargers on campus. The V2G chargers are located at The Boiler House Car Park. Chiel Construction Ltd completed the groundworks, and Claddagh Electrical Ltd installed the chargers. The Phoenix Works commissioned the chargers by setting up the connections to the back office that collect data from the chargers.
The V2G units have been installed on campus to support a planned programme of applied research that revolves around analysing real-world data garnered from vehicle usage and battery performance to create new models of battery ageing and degradation bespoke to V2G operation. Three Nissan ENV200 vans from the University’s Estates fleet have been fitted with data loggers and will be utilising the three V2G chargers. Usage data from the vehicles and the V2G chargers will then be stored in a data warehouse managed by Cenex, Crowd Charge and Hangar-19.
The degradation model will take account of both cycle aging (e.g. vehicle drive and charging) and calendar aging (e.g. extended periods of vehicle inactivity).
Different use cases will be integrated to underpin a variety of scenarios to highlight what may be feasible with increased EV-infrastructure and forecasting capability.
The University of Warwick declared a climate emergency and is committed to target net-zero carbon emissions. The majority of Estates fleet is already converted to electric vehicles. Using the campus as a living laboratory is important to support research and socialize innovative technologies.
Blog by James Marco, Professor of Systems Modelling and Simulation at WMG, University of Warwick
The Project EV-elocity is part of the Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) competition, funded by the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV), in partnership with Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation.
In January 2018, OZEV and BEIS announced that 21 projects (8 feasibility studies, 5 collaborative research and development projects, and 8 real-world v2g trial projects) were to receive funding of £30m to develop the business proposition and the core technology to support Vehicle 2 Grid deployment in the UK, including its demonstration with large scale trials.
The projects involve more than 50 industrial partners and research organisations from both the Energy and Automotive sector, marking the largest and most diverse activities on V2G in the world, and trialling more than 1,000 vehicles and V2G charger units across UK.
The V2G projects represent a significant step towards the transition to a low carbon transportation and a smart energy system. Allowing EVs to return energy to the Power Grid when parked and plugged for charging, will increase Grid resilience, allow for better exploitation of renewable sources and lower the cost of ownership for EV owners, leading to new business opportunities and clear advantages for EV users and energy consumers.