A project involving sub-surface on-street charging is being undertaken by energy consultancy Element Energy.
The firm will lead a partnership including Trojan Energy, Octopus Energy and Landis + Gyr for the project, dubbed SmartSTEP. It will build on existing schemes run by the energy firms.
The project will see the London boroughs of Brent and Camden deploy the technology from spring 2021 with the system designed, developed and tested between the energy firms and Landis + Gyr.
Octopus will be providing access and integration with its Agile tariff, which Element Energy said would allow the project to benefit from low cost green energy.
If the first phase of the scheme is successful, a second phase will see the smart charging system trialled with 100 chargepoints working alongside Landis + Gyr’s meters.
The project has secured a £856,000 grant from the government through its energy innovation programme to develop the scheme.
Simon Egan, managing director of Landis+Gyr UK, said: “Getting it right with widespread, easy and accessible EV charging will be fundamental to unlocking the potential of this sector and bringing it into the mainstream.
“SmartSTEP will have huge benefits in terms of widening the potential pool of EV customers and its success will play a major role in driving further roll outs of e-charging infrastructure at scale.”
