EV Rally interview: Paua
Transport + Energy are the Official Digital Media Partner for this year’s EV Rally. In the lead up to the event, Editorial Director Alec Peachey is catching up with a number of the participating teams. This week, he speaks to Niall Riddell, CEO and Co-Founder of Paua.
Q. Tell us about your team, who are they?
A. ”Team Paua Rangers are a returning team to the Rally after participation in 2022. This year we hope to be running a van alongside a car in order to showcase both elements of the experience. Paua aims to get the whole team involved in the rally at some point in order to provide maximum exposure to this incredible experience.”
Q. What is motivating you to take part?
A. ”Last year was mega! Paua believes in the key messages from the previous rally and wants to show case the best of our technology (and what is available to business drivers) and also to collaborate with others. Paua hopes to bring new partners to the rally this year including the return of the GRIDSERVE charging network, and ESB’s network in Ireland plus a number of others. Further to all of this Paua loves sheer challenge. The “hard things, but right thing to do” is what we are built on.”
Q. What do you think will be the greatest challenges?
A. ”Paua’s biggest challenge is in ensuring that network coverage for drivers is as high as possible. Paua is currently seeking to aggregate partners across the Irish legs of the event to ensure that drivers have sufficient coverage. However having analysed elements of the Irish route in advance one of the biggest anticipated issues will be the potential for groups of drivers to arrive at locations that only have a single charging point. As a consequence driver etiquette will be really important including the fact that members of the public will also wish to charge during the event. The team at WeEV are also providing coverage in Northern Ireland and EasyGo in ROI.”
Q. What differences do you anticipate in the charging infrastructure as you race across the regions?
A. ”In 2022 the challenge was the sparse and more dated infrastructure in Scotland. We anticipate the same again but this time in Ireland in particular. In 2022 we noted that certain more modern vehicles struggled to get older charging models to hold a steady charge and frequently even prevented charging from occurring. Team Paua had an iPace in 2022 and this struggled on certain chargers in Scotland. It is likely that a similar thing will occur on this trip with more modern vehicles being most at risk on older infrastructure. Many of the sites in Ireland are single 50kW assets with the risk of queues, asset failure and scarcity causing issues for a large group of drivers. And of course there are a couple of electric trucks that need to be charged with the complexities associated with space that need to be managed.”
Q. What are you most looking forward to?
A. ”Spending time with passionate dedicated people who are trying to overcome the problems to enable our children to live in a cleaner and greener planet.”
Q. Why do you think it’s important to showcase fleets? Do you think this type of event can educate fleet managers on their choices for the future?
A. ”Myth bust. Showcase that it can be done and demonstrate technology at scale.”
Q. Do you think that most barriers have now been overcome to allow for the widespread adoption of electric vehicles? What barriers, if any, remain?
A. ”No. We remain at around 2% of all vehicles on the road being electric. This remains in the “innovator” territory with early adopters still on the horizon. We have a lot to do with tech, software, infrastructure roll out. One of the biggest risks is armchair experts. People who have heard all the stories but do not have the stories of their own. People who are quite often in senior decision making roles. We need these people to adopt EV and understand the journey personally.”
Q. What do you think the EV situation will look like in 2030?
A. ”Quieter. Cleaner. Smoother.”
About Paua
Q. Tell us about your company’s latest innovations, vehicles and technology.
A. ‘‘Paua focuses on optimising a businesses transition to electric vehicles by supporting the single biggest change that they face; the switch from liquid fuels to electricity. We support a range of challenges in cost, reimbursement and integration of the multiple charging locations into a seamless experience. Paua is currently developing solutions to support drivers who charge at home to be fairly compensated. We are developing fraud solutions with a UK Government grant to develop algorithms to remove fraud. And we continue to add networks to the largest roaming network in the country with GRIDSERVE coming live most recently . New networks is the number one request we get from our customers.”
Q. What do you see as your company’s greatest opportunity leading up to 2030?
A. ‘‘Simplification. This needs to be easy. Aggregating all the data to automate the driver experience is absolutely key.”
Q. What is your company’s greatest challenge leading up to 2030?
A. ”Increasing complexity. The EV charging landscape has not stabilised and as such there is a host of complexity being added on a regular basis; V2G, regulation, ISO15118, competing standards, connected cars, autonomous cars, bitcoin, Web3 etc. Paua needs to navigate the complexities in order to present a simple experience for drivers and businesses who ulimately just want to get from A to B as quickly, easily and safely as possible.”
The EV Rally kicks off on 3 July in Cardiff. Participants will travel from Cardiff to Dublin, via London, Edinburgh and Belfast… all in 5 days! This has never been done, on a scale that will see around 50 all-electric motorcycles, cars, vans and trucks drive in excess of 1200 miles, carrying people, luggage and cargo.
Find out more at: https://ev-rally.co.uk
