Ultra low cost EV charging socket with smart rebilling
In plain English
AI plain-English summaryA new ultra-low-cost charging socket lets businesses install EV chargers for a fraction of the current price and automatically bill visiting drivers for the electricity they use. The UK needs hundreds of thousands more public charging points to meet its 2035 ban on new petrol and diesel car sales. A 2021 survey found 56 per cent of car buyers cited the poor charging network as a reason not to go electric. Installing a standard destination charger—the kind found at hotels, supermarkets, or car parks—remains expensive, and many hosts worry about absorbing electricity costs for strangers. This project tackles both barriers directly. If successful, the socket could cut the cost of a destination charger by an order of magnitude. The smart rebilling system means the host pays nothing for the visitor’s charge, removing the financial disincentive. More chargers in more places would reduce range anxiety and accelerate EV adoption, helping cut the 8 per cent of UK emissions that currently come from cars. The project is not fundamental science; it is an engineering solution aimed at a practical infrastructure bottleneck.
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