SWARCO Smart Charging and Connected Energy have joined forces to help accelerate the roll out of electric vehicle charging across the UK by integrating their hardware with an energy storage system which is made entirely from second life EV batteries.
TransportAndEnergy.com reports this collaboration aims to overcome two of the biggest barriers to the wider take-up of EVs among organisations wanting to provide EV charging for their own EV fleet or to provide public or private charging: energy capacity, and the costly and lengthy DNO upgrades that this can entail.
E-STOR can be linked to renewable energy technologies such as photovoltaic panels allowing charging points to be powered by renewable energy – with excess power generated from the renewable sources stored until it is needed. The 24, second-life EV batteries used within each E-STOR come from Renault Kangoos.
The site says bringing battery storage and EV charging solutions together is especially important at large fleet depots or public charging hubs, where capacity is an issue. By drawing energy – either from the grid or from renewables – and storing it, energy is available to meet spikes in demand during busy charging periods, ensuring that drivers get the amount of power they expect when they plug in. For locations where a site simply does not have the power required to meet demand, active charger management can be provided to avoid peak load spikes.
Read the full story with quotes here.
(Picture – Transport and Energy)
