Electric vehicle owners will benefit from lower energy bills and lower driving costs as a result of a historic plan to unlock the potential of smart electric vehicle charging.
The government and Ofgem published the Electric Vehicle Smart Charging Action Plan on Tuesday, January 17, outlining steps being taken to capitalize on the significant potential of smart charging and make it the preferred method of long-term charging by 2025.
Smart charging harnesses the power of energy use data and the most recent energy innovations to provide significant benefits to consumers, such as allowing motorists to charge electric vehicles when electricity is cheaper or cleaner, allowing consumers to power their homes with electricity stored in their electric vehicle, or even selling it back to the grid.
To support this, the government has announced £16 million in funding from the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP) for technologies that harness the potential of smart charging, such as a smart street lamppost that will allow motorists to access smart charging while on the move, and projects that will allow domestic appliances, ranging from heat pumps to electric vehicle charge points and batteries, to integrate into a smarter energy system.
The announcements made today build on the significant steps taken by the government to enable smart and flexible electric vehicle charging. All new charge points sold for private use must have smart functionality by July 2022, and the UK is consulting on a new policy and technical framework to unlock the benefits of domestic smart, flexible energy while also improving cybersecurity.