Char.gy, a pioneer in ‘on-street’ EV charging technologies, has begun a “world-first” public EV inductive charging trial in Marlow, Buckinghamshire.
The London-based company has integrated its charging infrastructure into the road and then fitted an induction charging pad onto the bottom of a number of EVs that are available for public hire through the hiyacar.co.uk app and website.
The contactless technology simply requires the driver to park the vehicle over the charge plate without any need for cables or any driver interaction with a charge point. Members of the public are invited to hire the adapted EVs for up to three days and provide feedback on their charging experience.
Many households do not have off-street parking to charge an EV and so Char.gy’s inductive on-street technology provides a solution accessible to all drivers. Another benefit is that an absence of cabling removes trip hazards for pedestrians.
Buckinghamshire Council are supporting the trial and Char.gy’s technology partner IPT Technology installed the inductive chargers.
Peter Strachan, cabinet member for climate change & environment at Buckinghamshire Council, said: “The trial of inductive charging in Marlow really provides a sense of what the near future will look like. As a typical local authority looking to incentivise the adoption of EVs, managing the street scene and accommodating a wide variety of needs and preferences on our residential roads and pavements has – until now – proven to be very challenging.”
Mr Strachan continued: “Inductive charging solves a great many of the problems and looks like a clear contender for how we organise our clean power infrastructure in the best interests of all of our residents.”
Once this trial completes in July 2022, the next phase will be to use the technology in a variety of urban contexts before testing a second-generation inductive fast charger that has been developed by Char.gy’s partner Warwick Manufacturing Group.
Char.gy already has one on-street charging solution, which is a lamppost smart charge point that fits onto existing street infrastructure.
Myles Roberts, Char.gy’s project manager for inductive charging, said: “Our business has really focused on use-cases where charging solutions are complicated. Inductive charging takes another step towards making on-street charging in urban contexts the de facto solution for people without off-street parking who want an EV.”