My Electric Avenue, a pioneering £9m electric vehicle programme, has reached a key project milestone by exceeding its customer sign up target.
The project is a bold vision of the future that aims to turn the street of the future into reality. It is hosted by Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distribution [SSEPD] and led by EA Technology and can now begin technical trials.
The project was set a target by Ofgem of signing up ten ‘electric avenues’ – groups or ‘clusters’, with seven groups of ten people or more. Each person will drive an electric car for 18 months to trial a new technology which will monitor and control the electricity used when the car is being charged.
Having now signed up more than 100 customers, My Electric Avenue will begin delivery of the Nissan Leafs to be used by the trialists.
Once all the cars are delivered, the street of the future will take shape, with the trialists using their cars on a daily basis in a real-life scenario.
If sales of electric vehicles take off, as many industry experts predict, charging your car after work could soon become as natural as firing up the kettle for a welcome home cup of tea.
Commenting on the success of the project, Stewart Reid, SSE Future Networks Manager, said: “This project is critical for us as we move towards a world where electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles are the norm.
“Learning how to charge a large number of EVs in the same street without having to replace the cables and substations is key if we are to keep customers’ bills down.
"The efforts of the Electric Avenue team in recruiting customers have been excellent, but for me the most significant learning point so far is the relative ease with which these customer clusters have been created. To me this says that we are very close to the ‘tipping point’ in the UK where EVs will be a significant part of the mix.”