The Optimise Prime formal trial period began on Thursday, 1st July 2021. This marks the point when the minimum number of vehicles required are on the road and the systems needed to capture data from vehicles and infrastructure are all in place. Trials will continue for the next year, in order to capture the impact of seasonal change (both from the weather and from variations in demand for our partners’ services) and will involve the testing of a range of different services, such as flexibility and profiled connections.
The project has now exceeded the minimum required number of vehicles for statistical significance - in fact, across the three trials we’re now gathering data relating to around 3,000 electric vehicles. This number is expected to continue to grow over the coming months.
In the Depot Trials, charging across nine Royal Mail depots in and around London is being controlled and monitored by an optimisation system developed for the project by Hitachi. In addition to capturing data from charge points and vehicle telematics systems, the project will trial the application of ‘profiled connections’ where the total amount of electrical load that a site can put on the distribution network varies throughout the day. This pre-agreed profile takes into account load on the network as well as the charging requirements of the fleet. Firm-forward and day-ahead flexibility services will also be trialled, allowing UK Power Networks to request further reductions in EV charging when the network is under stress. If these trials prove successful, these products will allow more EVs and depots to be connected to the existing network infrastructure through better management of loads.
Electric vehicles at Royal Mail’s Dartford Delivery Office and Mount Pleasant Mail Centre will take part in the trials
In the Home Trials, telematics and charge point data is being collected from electric vans being charged at British Gas drivers’ homes throughout the UK. By doing this we will gain a better understanding of how business vehicles could impact on demand at domestic properties and help networks plan their future investment. Later in the year we’ll also be testing the provision of day ahead and continuous flexibility services from these vehicles to UK Power Networks and Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, via Centrica’s FlexPond™ Optimisation Platform.
Vauxhall Vivaro-e vans being rolled introduced to the British Gas fleet
The project’s third trial, the Mixed Trial, has been collecting and analysing trip data from over 1000 Uber EVs operating throughout Greater London since September 2020. As we don’t know exactly where Uber’s drivers charge, the project is using trip data and charge point locations to model where charging is likely to happen. As part of this work we’re identifying areas where charging infrastructure may not be meeting demand, and scaling this up to predict future demand as private hire vehicles continue to rapidly electrify, and the impact on electricity networks.
Throughout the trials we’ll continue to update our website www.optimise-prime.com with learnings that may be useful to project stakeholders and our first report on interim findings is due to be published towards the end of the year. You can also keep up with project news via Linkedin and Twitter.
