New Smart Charging Rules: A good and timely idea
With new ‘Smart Charging’ rules for electric vehicles coming into force, Nigel Morris, Our Head of EV and Fleet Advisory and Automotive Tax says the new measures, which require all electric car charge points to have a data connection able to measure usage and slow down charging in periods of high demand, are sensible and will save money in the long run:
“Although there is uncertainty among EV drivers (and fleet managers) about smart charging the idea is a good one and introducing it now, when we’re still at an early stage in our transition to EVs, is an even better one. It is good for those of us who have EVs and for those of us who don’t but still use electricity (in other words, almost everyone).
“Smart charging should let us avoid spikes in demand overloading the energy suppliers by encouraging customers to charge their vehicles at the cheaper overnight rates. Smart chargers should also be able to take advantage of the more complex tariffs electricity providers are likely to introduce to balance the network load. For example, we may see providers increasingly introduce separate rates for different parts of the day and night, perhaps having as many as 6 different daytime rates, depending on demand (currently most customers are just on a day, or a day and night rate). Smart chargers have the technology to cope with this more complex charging system.
The smart charging infrastructure could pave the way for ‘vehicle to grid’ technology where you can sell charge in your car battery back to the networks when they need capacity.
“There is a cost implication for consumers of acquiring more expensive smart chargers but investing in that technology today will still bear out ‘smart charging’ in terms of money saved, at least over time. In the future the cost of smart chargers is set to reduce, but between now and then we have increasing energy costs which smart chargers can help to off-set.”
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