CHELTENHAM, England,
Aug. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- With a
third of UK car owners lacking access to off street parking, the
availability of EV charging points is an issue that could stall the
uptake of electric vehicles. One organisation in Cheltenham think they have the answer! Product
Design company Duku and sister IP firm, Albright IP have now
developed 'a world's first' pop-up EV charge point in collaboration
with Urban Electric, which is currently being trialled in a street
in Oxford.
"Without access to charging points the electric car
revolution could by-pass millions of people, particularly in the
inner cities. Ironically this demographic is also one of the most
likely to use an electric car, with short commutes into local towns
or to train stations. If you can solve this problem, then you open
up a huge market opportunity to increase the uptake of EVs in every
single town and city," explains Andrew
Aylesbury, Director, Duku.
With six prototype charge points now installed as part of the
project's pilot stage, Duku has already overcome many of the design
challenges which come with a pop-up system.
"The project came with a huge number of challenges, from
reducing visual 'street clutter' to the shallow amount of available
depth below ground. Cities such as Oxford have a lot of historical
architecture and utilities under the pavement," added
Alex Lee, Director, Duku. "So,
minimising the depth below the ground is one of the big challenges.
At the same time, it needs to rise up to a certain level to make it
accessible for everyone, so we worked hard to miniaturise its
components while also creating a charge point that could rise up to
800mm above ground level"
In addition, a range of sensors to detect obstacles and monitor
the performance of the charge point ensure a safe, intelligent
design that eliminates the chance of the charge point coming into
contact with anything such as a parked car. Safety cut offs also
ensure that the charge point does not power up until it detects
that a car is connected.
Once retracted into the ground, the charge points sit completely
flush with the pavement, preventing any trip hazards, and are only
visible by a ring of light which highlights their position and lets
users know of their availability.
"It's certainly a complex system but overcoming challenges is
something the team at Albright IP and Duku are used to. Getting
them in the ground is a real milestone for the project and we're
excited to see how they operate," added Robert Games, Managing Director, Albright
IP.
The trial will take place over the next six months and users
will be able to book an electric car which has been made available
for the period of the pilot.
The project has been delivered in partnership with Duku, Urban
Electric Networks Ltd and Oxford City Council.
Downloadable video link https://vimeo.com/355048264
https://www.duku.co.uk/
Photo -
https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/964288/Duku_EV_pop_up_charger.jpg
Video -
https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/964402/Duku__Retractable_EV_Charge_Point_vid.mp4