25.7.2012 Pay-as-you-go EV charging to go national

At LCV2012, an event taking place at Millbrook Proving Grounds on 5-6th September 2012, Charge Your Car Limited will be presenting its plans for the creation of the UK's largest pay-as-you-go, 'open source' network of public access charging stations for electric vehicles.

Charge Your Car is offering the first national network that is open to all EV drivers, all charge point hosts and network operators, and all charge point manufacturers. Their subscription-free charging network is to be expanded nationally, with the target of 10,000 charging points in total.

Within LCV2012's Conference and Technical Seminar Programme, the company will outline how taking an 'open source' approach to the creation and management of EV recharging infrastructure can facilitate the mass uptake of EVs.

"The UK has multiple regional networks of charge points in closed membership schemes, which is delaying the adoption of electric vehicles in the UK," explains Alexandra Prescott, Operations Manager at Charge Your Car. "EV users cannot 'roam'; they need to join multiple membership schemes, pay multiple subscriptions, and use multiple means of accessing the charge points. All of this creates hassle and imposes unnecessary expense.

"Most EV drivers charge at home overnight, so the public network is for topping up and extended-range journeys. We know from research that electric vehicle drivers want to be able to access charging infrastructure in the same way as they buy petrol or park their car: pay-as-you-go, without joining membership schemes or paying a monthly subscription."

A cornerstone of the company's strategy is the widespread adoption of the industry-standard Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP), which will mean that charge points produced by any manufacturer can be included on the network. "It is one of the keys to creating a driver-friendly recharging network. The other is the evolution of pay-as-you-go," adds Prescott.

The Charge Your Car initiative comes as the result of a new joint venture between Elektromotive Limited, one of Europe's leading providers of EV charge points and charge point management systems, and Charge your Car (North) Ltd. The new company will expand the existing Charge your Car (North) Ltd network of 400 publicly accessible charge points located predominantly across North East England, by providing a fully managed promotion and management service to charge point hosts and network operators.

The goal is to create a recharging network with 10,000 public access pay-as-you-go charge points located across the UK.

"Charge Your Car's first generation back office already enables a pay-by-phone, pay-as-you-go solution, which has been operational for nearly 12 months. Now we are using the insights gained from the past year to develop a second-generation back office based on our 'open source' approach and we will share our plans with our industry colleagues at LCV2012. The new service will be fully operational next year," explains Prescott.

The UK's national public charge point infrastructure is continually growing – to see your nearest stations see Next Green Car's Zap-Map. To integrate all charging points so that schemes are not fragmented and isolated will make recharging far easier, making EVs a more attractive option for motorists.

Newspress