A public fast-charging station for electric vehicles will use its own built-in batteries to draw power from the grid during off-peak hours and then deliver that stored energy to cars during the day. Current public fast chargers pull peak power from the grid, which often comes from fossil-fuel plants—simply shifting the emissions problem from the tailpipe to the power station. EnSmartEV sidesteps this by charging its internal lithium batteries overnight, when electricity is cheaper and often lower-carbon, then using that stored energy to charge EVs rapidly without straining the grid. The system can also reuse retired EV batteries as its storage units, extending their useful life. If successful, the system could make public EV charging genuinely low-carbon, especially for the millions of UK residents without off-street parking. Each charging post serves two vehicles simultaneously, has a small pavement footprint, and is designed for disabled, blind, and wheelchair users. The system can also provide grid-balancing services at no extra cost, helping integrate more renewable energy into the electricity network.
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The project aims to develop and demonstrate an innovative and game-changing smart public fast EV charging system, EnSmartEV. The government has made commitments to reducing CO2 emissions but current public EV chargers use peak power to charge EVs and still require burning of large amounts of fossil fuels, so the problems are being moved elsewhere - to the point of power generation rather than the vehicles themselves. Our vision is to provide a smart, public, fast EV charging solution to truly enable low/zero carbon transportation and encourage purchase of EVs, particularly for those without off-street parking and business users. EnSmartEV offers fast DC and AC charging for CCS standard EVs, such as BMW i3, and fast AC charging for other standard EVs with Type 2 inlet, such as Nissan Leaf. It is designed for all EV models (including cleaning and delivery vehicles, i.e. not only passenger vehicles) in the UK/EU. EnSmartEV integrates lithium batteries and is designed to charge EVs with ~100% off-peak or low tariff power or renewable electricity at highest power efficiency and lowest grid connection costs, which enables high penetration of renewable power with the grid infrastructure. EnSmartEV enables re-use of after-service EV batteries, and which extends EV batteries life-span. EnSmartEV system includes a Battery Container and three slim/simple Charging Posts. The Battery Container houses all the equipment and can be screened to be embedded in a space away from the street/pavement. The Charging Post has very small footprint on street/pavement, is designed for all users (including disabled drivers), and considers other road users, particularly the blind and wheelchair users. Each Charging Post is designed to serve two electric vehicles charging simultaneously and provide multiple uses, such as mobile phone top-up charging, lighting the street/pavement while indicating drivers the status of the charger. EnSmartEV is designed to provide supporting services (i.e. balancing and frequency support) to the grid at zero extra cost, and which is well beyond V2G (vehicle to grid) and demand response. EnSmartEV is truly the next generation smart EV charging solution which enables low carbon transportation and addresses climate change. EnSmartEV can be used for all public locations, including but not limited to on-street, community parking hub and car parks when there are spaces available for the Battery Container. EnSmartEV will facilitate rapid growth of EVs, stimulate road transport electrification, enable re-use of after-service EV batteries, enhance air quality and hence quality of life.
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