News story

New charging systems for electric vehicles: apply for contracts

Organisations can apply for a share of £80,000 to examine how low-carbon and smart electric vehicle charging infrastructure could be introduced in Edinburgh.

View up Victoria Street towards the Royal Mile

View up Victoria Street towards the Royal Mile. Credit: Jeff Whyte at Shutterstock.com.

The City of Edinburgh Council has up to £80,000 to invest in studies that look at how smart energy systems and renewable energy could be integrated into a future mass-market electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

A further £200,000 could be available to prototype the best ideas in a second phase of the competition.

Funding for this competition is under the SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative) programme.

Creating an integrated charging infrastructure

Scottish Government has set out new targets for carbon reduction and electric vehicles. This includes phasing out the need for diesel and petrol vehicles by 2032 and significantly expanding the country’s charging network.

In this competition, Edinburgh is seeking projects that combine on-site generation of renewable energy, battery storage and smart meters with innovative software systems to control everything.

Its aim is to have financially self-sustaining, closed-loop vehicle charging systems, with smart grid and vehicle-to-grid capabilities.

Competition information

  • the competition opens on 4 December 2017, and the deadline for registration is midday on 7 February 2018
  • SBRI is open to any organisation that can demonstrate a route to market for its idea
  • we expect phase 1 contracts to be worth up to £20,000 and to last up to 6 months
  • phase 2 contracts could be worth up to £100,000
  • successful projects will attract 100% funded development contracts
Published 4 December 2017