Smart EV charging and The Road to Zero

You may or may not be aware of the hype about 'smart' EV charging. If you already have an electric vehicle chargepoint installed at home, this will not affect you.  However, from 1st July 219, the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) will only be funding the new 'smart' charge points and there are no exceptions.

The great news is that the government has maintained the current level of £500 towards the cost.  Up until this date, we can still install standard EV charge points at our current pricing and the OLEV grant will still be applied if you meet the criteria.  This change will only affect the EVHS and NOT the WCS funding.

So what's it all about?  Back in December 2018, the government announced fulfilling the commitment in the Road to Zero Strategy and from 1st July 2019, home car charging points must use smart innovative technology so that they can be remotely accessed and capable of receiving, interpreting and reacting to a signal.

Why is this? Well, imagine if every person with an electric vehicle charged at exactly the same time every day, there would be a huge surge in demand on the National Grid so the main aim is to reduce high peaks of electricity demands as well as keeping costs down by encouraging off-peak charging.Since 2014, the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme has already contributed towards the cost of over 60,000 home chargepoints and there is the hope that more and more drivers will be encouraged to make the switch.

The core mission is for all new cars and vans to be zero emission by 2040, thus giving us and future generations cleaner air and a better environment to live in.