Wednesday, December 18, 2024
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Dazzling Transport + Energy Awards celebrate innovation and ingenuity

Transport + Energy Awards scaled new heights at the presentation dinner last month, presenting 10 awards for collaborations, projects and individual achievement.

The awards took place on the evening of the Transport + Energy Forum at Warwick Conferences.

The best networks 

With three categories covering excellence in network coverage and collaboration, competition was fierce and of high quality.

In the energy network of the year: best collaboration category the award went to PoGo Charge for The Galleries Washington project, which the judges said “was delivered in a short period of time with extraordinary forward thinking from Northern Powergrid.”

“Winning this award is a testament to the power of collaboration in the energy sector. At PoGo Charge, we believe that working together with other industry leaders is key to creating the robust, accessible, and future-proof charging infrastructure that EV drivers need,” Stuart Douglas, Managing Director PoGo Charge commented.

The award for best EV rapid charging network was closely fought and won by Osprey Charging Network, who the judges said had shown “commitment to an open ecosystem of roaming requirements in the UK, a clear commitment to accessibility and design whilst also exploring innovation and championing emission reductions across the supply chain.” 

The judges awarded best on-street EV charging network to char.gy for their “smart charging capabilities, allowing users to manage their charging sessions via a mobile app, offering real time updates on charger availability, session progress and cost.”

Scotland soared

The challenge of delivering decarbonisation in remote communities and the quality of work in Scottish cities was demonstrated by wins for The Highland Council for best local authority EV charging scheme and for Dundee City Council for best accessibility strategy/project.

The judges said that The Highland Council “has had its main focus on connecting sparsely populated, remote communities with a rapid charging infrastructure, presenting a challenge which most local authorities don’t have to deal with.” 

Commenting on Dundee City Council’s award, the judges “were impressed by fact that the applicants engaged with the community and put time and effort into ensuring they not only adhered to industry best practice, but also designed and implemented the project based on their own work in the community.”

On winning the award, Fraser Crichton, Corporate Fleet Manager Dundee City Council said:

“This award is a testament to over two years of hard work and an excellent relationship between partners that was formed during the process thanks to the shared ambition of making EV charging as accessible and inclusive as possible. We still have a lot to learn, but the Charging Oasis is a step in the right direction.”

One of the highlights of the evening was the rising star award, presented to Rachael Anderson from The Highland Council, who the judges said “stood out because of her proactive nature, ability to take on multiple difficult challenges and overcome significant geographical and infrastructure challenges to deliver high quality infrastructure.”

Product innovation

The award for the best product or new technology was scooped up in a close contest between highly commended ClearWatt for their Battery Health Report and winner Kerbo Charge for their “practical and real-life solution that could impact one of the hardest to reach areas – people without driveways. Innovation has made them a stand-out in this sector and they have overcome the many challenges associated with working closely with the highway authorities.”

Michael Goulden Director Kerbo Charge said “All our work here is about accelerating the decarbonisation of the UK and we’re so pleased the judges recognised the huge amount of activity to rapidly iterate the product and installation method, and to build long lasting relationships with local authorities.”

Fleet focus

The line up included two awards for fleets: best commercial vehicle decarbonisation strategy/project, which was won by Voltempo Group for eFREIGHT2030 and best local authority fleet partnership, presented to The Go-Ahead Group.

The judges said of the Voltempo award “Electrifying freight is a monumental challenge, not least because of the infrastructure requirements but also because of how difficult it is to get the vehicle technology together and to make the business case. To assemble such a big consortium of heavy vehicle operators and galvanise them into action is truly impressive”

Michael Boxwell, CEO Voltempo Group commented:

“Winning this award at the Transport + Energy Awards is a testament to the hard work, passion, and vision of the eFREIGHT 2030 consortium to accelerate commercial vehicle decarbonisation through innovation and collaboration.”

The Go-Ahead Group’s Transitioning to Zero-Emission Buses in Oxford impressed the panel with the “huge amount of infrastructure and vehicles which were deployed in a short space of time, including great energy savings. The precision with which they have measured the impact was impressive and stood out in the whole category as they had thought about why they were doing it, which is ultimately about clean air and carbon reduction”.

Stellar collaborations in the transport and energy sectors

The final award of the evening was presented to a partnership which had gone above and beyond in the transport and energy sectors, a well-deserved win for the mighty partnership of Field Dynamics UK, Power Networks DSO, Cenex and Zapmap for the Charge Point Navigator.

The judges said it is “an innovative tool that provides the interface between local authorities looking to plan infrastructure, DNOs providing the internet connections and the charge point operators, which is going to be vital to delivering and deploying charge points at scale.”

Transport + Energy Awards 2025 will take place on Thursday 20 November.

Watch the highlights video below:

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