Seminar 27th February 2012 5 p.m. Room 3021, Building 7
Electric Vehicles - Charging Ahead
Professor Phil Blythe
Newcastle University
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- Submitter
- Marcus Erridge
Transportation Research Group Seminar Electric Vehicle Trials in the North East of England: Charging Ahead
Professor Phil Blythe Director of Transport Operations Research Group School of Civil Engineering and Geoscience Newcastle University
The seminar will provide an overview of the progress with the North East of England trials and provide an insight into how early adopters are using their vehicle and importantly their charging behaviour with a large number of charging points available to them.
The North East of England is one of the pioneers in the wide-scale demonstration of electric vehicles in the United Kingdom. The Switch-EV trial is one of only 8 projects across the UK to have won funding through the TSB’s (Technology Strategy Board), Ultra Low Carbon Vehicle (ULCV) Demonstrator Programme. As part of the three year trial, 44 full-electric vehicles have been equipped with data loggers to provide an insight into how early adopters are using their vehicles and most importantly their charging behaviour with a large number of charging points available to them.
The trial is somewhat unique nationally in that it is operating in conjunction with the Charge Your Car ‘Plugged in Places’ project This is installing publically accessible charging infrastructure for EV drivers throughout the region. Drivers of the Switch EV vehicles will now have real options about when and where they charge up. Their homes can be equipped with the latest domestic charging units, they can also have access to more than 300 standard on-street charging posts or take advantage of the fast chargers being installed around the region. These enable the cars to be 80% charged in about 20 minutes. This infrastructure environment enables the research team at Newcastle University to confirm the performance and suitability of the vehicles and infrastructure, and understand the perceptions of the drivers over their 6 months experience of the vehicles.
The trials correlates the driving and performance data derived from the vehicles, with charging behaviour derived from both the vehicle loggers and EV recharging infrastructure and soft data from: questionnaires; focus groups; and structured interviews with participants. A selection of the results and analysis from the first year of the trial and a series of research challenges will be presented at the TRG seminar on 27th February 2012.
For further information please contact Prof. R. Eddie Wilson: R.E.Wilson@soton.ac.uk
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