Al Jardine is 1.65m tall. That's just short of 5 foot 5 inches, so around the same height as me. As well as being of similar height, Al Jardine and I have something else in common. I have a bit of a thing for electric cars. It seems that Al does too, or at least his grandfather did.
"Yes, my grandfather worked with Thomas Edison on the electric car, and he sold electric cars at the 1900 World's Fair in Paris." Al Jardine
Electric cars have glided in and out of history for well over a century. The engineers at EA Technology were tinkering with electric cars, vans and even wireless charging back in the 1960s, no doubt whilst taking a break from inventing Economy 7 (sorry everyone) and the halogen hob. Indeed there have been a few false dawns for the humble EV.
So what's different today?
When I started working on the bid for the My Electric Avenue project back in 2012, an acquaintance remarked that "EVs are just another fad. They'll never take off." I remember making a similar comment to my brother after hearing the Spice Girls on the radio for the first time. The magnitude of my getting it so wrong about the Spice Girls... well the same applies to that remark about EVs just being a fad.
The reason that EVs are here to stay? Nations have united under COP 21 to agree and commit to reducing CO2 emissions. Governments are supporting people and businesses to transition from Internal Combustion Engines to EV. And the signals from the automotive industry are clear with traditional motoring manufacturers getting involved in the EV game.
The supportive signals are ringing loud and clear from the UK Government too, with an additional £390 million addition funds for ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEV) announced in the Autumn Statement on 23 November 2016. That's almost £1 billion in total from Government of late. And we have the green paper for the new industrial strategy, with a focus on low emission vehicles, clean energy and growth.
EA Technology has been supporting the mass adoption of EVs since 2012, and in particular, working on projects with amazing partners to facilitate their uptake on GB electricity networks.
My Electric Avenue, hosted by SSEN, evidenced the impact of EVs on local electricity networks, trialled a simple demand control solution, and found that customers accepted having their EVs remotely controlled.
Smart EV, again with SSEN and delivered by EA Technology, is working across the utilities, automotive and consumer sectors with UK Government, to develop an Engineering Recommendation or equivalent, to facilitate managed EV charging and the connection of EVs to the electricity network. The customer messaging strategy that will be orchestrated through this project will lay the groundwork for consumer acceptance and understanding of EV demand control.
Electric Nation, a Western Power Distribution project with EA Technology as a key collaboration partner, is engaging 500-700 EV drivers, across a range of battery sizes and charging capacities, to trial varying degrees of demand control and vehicle to grid technologies. With trial participation lasting two years, there will be a staggering amount of charging, driving, behavioural and other data and learning coming out of this project.
Last but not least is the EV Network Group. A legacy of My Electric Avenue, this high level Group was initiated by EA Technology in recognition of the fact there needs to be communication and collaboration between automotive, utilities and consumer bodies and Government, to aid the ULEV movement. Now operating through LowCVP, the future's bright for the EV Network Group to be the platform on which the UK leads the way to ever increasing electric miles.
And zero fuel costs.
And zero road tax.
Zero tailpipe emissions.
I've almost finished... I just want to mention something that a friend told me the other day. My friend has a new job. His new company will not entertain any type of plug-in vehicle, not even a hybrid, on the company car options list. Naturally curious, I asked why not...? The answer came back "Because the management think that instead of being able to get to four meetings in a day, staff will only go to two. They'll say it took too long to charge their car."
The EV revolution may have started, and I believe that there is no turning back, but we still have a long way to go. Which means that there is fantastic opportunity to continue to work together to overcome these perceived barriers. And the work of SSEN is making sure that our electricity networks will not be one of them.