London South East Bid : Mercedes-Benz EDF Energy Elektromotive Westminster City Council & Greater London Authority Consortia

A fleet of Mercedes-Benz smart electric cars will log every trip their drivers make, while researchers track how and when they plug in at home. This project, led by Mercedes-Benz UK with EDF Energy, tests whether real households will adopt electric vehicles when given workplace and public charging points across London and the South East. The core question is not whether the cars work, but whether people will change their daily recharging habits—plugging in overnight at home rather than relying on public infrastructure. Each vehicle carries a GPS data logger to capture driving patterns, while separate surveys measure attitudes and perceptions. If the trial succeeds, it could reshape how energy grids and charging networks are designed: knowing when people actually charge—not just when they say they will—allows utilities to balance load, avoid peak-time strain, and plan where to install new charge points. The project’s primary focus is domestic recharging behaviour, not public infrastructure. For a programme manager, the value lies in hard behavioural data from a real-world fleet, replacing assumptions with evidence about the gap between electric vehicle enthusiasm and actual charging routines.