A decarbonisation initiative has been launched by Coventry University to research the barriers to EV home charging.
The Department for Transport (DfT) awarded the project a £1.6 million grant after it won, alongside six other initiatives, the Transport Decarbonisation Demonstrator competition.
The project, titled “Levelling up Coventry’s EV adoption journey,” will focus on Coventry residents without driveway access. This represents almost half of the city’s households, who have to rely on public charging points if they drive an EV or plan to in the future.
EV charging points have historically been installed in areas with easy access to grid power and where road systems can be readily adapted. This means that their placement does not always align with the preferences of current and potential EV drivers.
Speaking on the initiative, Stewart Birrell, professor of human factors for future transport at Coventry University, said: “Our research will bring our human-centred design expertise to help design a usable and desirable mobile battery innovation - an EV charging solution named Enstorel, but also understand through modelling the existing charging network where gaps exist for changing needs in Coventry.”
The initiative will assess the effectiveness of the existing infrastructure in Coventry and create a tool to support more strategic EV charger placement. The anticipated outcome is greater EV adoption and further decarbonisation of urban transport systems.
Executive director of net zero at Innovate UK, Mike Biddle, said: “By looking at decarbonisation through a place-based lens it is hoped that these projects will bring wider benefits above and beyond transport decarbonisation, such as the improved health of residents through better access to active travel modes, a greater sense of community created by schemes or a decrease in congestion levels due to fewer private vehicles on the road.”
