Project to enable shared depot EV charging underway

A new project is underway to enable shared depot EV charging facilities on a commercial scale.

Cenex, Oxfordshire County Council, Suffolk County Council and Paua are collaborating on the project, which seeks to demonstrate how sharing charging facilities with other fleets could work.

The two County Councils will provide depot locations, Cenex will engage with fleets and other stakeholders to explore the barriers and opportunities of this approach, and Paua will enable drivers to find, charge, and pay at the shared depot locations.

Mike Biddle, Executive Director Net Zero at Innovate UK 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. We’re looking forward to the project completion next year and seeing the impact.”

A key outcome being targeted is the ability to generate increased revenue from the chargers that businesses have already installed.

Niall Riddell, CEO and co-founder of Paua stated “Paua seeks to innovate to enable businesses to simplify their transition to electric. Having led the aggregation of UK public charging, developed technology to reimburse home charging, we now see this sharing of depots as the next natural step to meeting the needs of fleet professionals”.

The project originates from experiences on the GREENFLEET Rally 2023 where Paua and Cenex first experienced depot sharing with multiple vehicles and locations. First Bus Glasgow was one of the sites utilised and First Bus are one of the advisory panel with the first charging session having taken place at their sites already.

Paua is asking businesses with an interest in this solution to contact them either to share and monetise their own infrastructure or to access the infrastructure of others involved in the project. Be the first to use this solution to see how it can support your transition to electric. Hello@pauatech.com

A single aggregated way to access chargers and centralise the payments reduces the effort of fleets making the transition to electric. It provides a valuable alternative option to fleets including Blue Lights, larger commercial vehicles, electric trucks, and those without depot arrangements.

A series of public webinars will discuss the project over the next 8 months and share early findings from the project.