£3 Million Funding for Pop-Up Electric Vehicle Charging Pilot

Led by Urban Foresight, the project will focus on innovative pop-up chargers that are built into the pavement and rise up to provide a discreet, safe and low-cost charging solution for electric vehicle drivers without access to off-street parking.

Dr. David Beeton, CEO of Urban Foresight said “Around 50% of cars are parked on-street at night in cities across the UK. Solving the technical and commercial challenges of charging these vehicles will make it easy for drivers to go electric and provide a valuable toolkit for local authorities to reduce pollution from road transport.”

The charging technology will be developed by Urban Electric and product design company Duku. Urban Electric’s Co-Founder, Keith Johnson, said: “The project will see over 100 new Urban Electric ‘pop-up’ chargers installed with Dundee City and Plymouth City Councils. The chargers will be in residential and public streets with on-street parking, offering a simple-to-use and attractive on-street solution.”

The project will also demonstrate a smart city user experience with in-ground parking sensors provided by AppyParking making it easy for EV drivers to locate and pay for charging with a single app. These technologies will also be used by Co-Wheels to pilot an easy-access electric car club, with flexible pick-up and drop-off zones.

Twelve projects in total received a share of £37 million of funding from the UK government. Michael Ellis, Future of Mobility Minister said: “We’re charging up the transport revolution and investing in technologies to transform the experience for electric vehicle drivers. Ensuring the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles is reliable and innovative is encouraging more people to join the record numbers of ultra-low emission vehicle users already on UK roads.”