Energy storage provider Connected Energy has warned fleet operators, dealerships, and service centres that many of their grid connections will not support charging infrastructure for electric trucks.
Grid constraints will prevent an effective rollout of the vehicles because of the higher amount of power that EV chargers for HGVs need. Although HGVs only make up 1% of vehicles on British roads, they are heavy emitters and contribute 20% of the country’s transport emissions.
However, modelling carried out by Connected Energy has shown sites that need high-power EV charging to support fleet rollout will face “many challenges”. According to Nigel Dent, head of sales at the company, which specialises in repurposing EV battery packs as ‘second life’ stationary battery storage systems: “In the majority of cases, the local grid simply could not support a high-capacity charger of 150 kilowatts, never mind a 350kW unit.”
Distribution network operators (DNOs) can upgrade local grid capacity, but the process is expensive and can be lengthy.
Dent added: “The industrial estates and business parks that are home to fleet depots, service centres and dealerships were naturally not built with these high-power demands in mind. But this could potentially cause delays to the roll-out of electric HGVs and add substantial, unanticipated costs to projects.”
In October last year, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced £200 million funding, in partnership with Innovate UK, for rolling stock and infrastructure to support low carbon freight transport.
The election of the Labour Government earlier this month heralded a positive change for the renewable energy sector as a whole. In its election campaign, the party pledged to reinstate the 2030 ban on the sale of internal combustion engines (ICE) in new cars, but emobility has been largely absent in the government’s activity since then.
Indeed, the new Transport Secretary has announced five strategic priorities, including delivering greener transport, but is yet to expand on this.
Battery energy storage to combat grid constraints
Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are a way to ensure power in grid constrained areas. When demand is low, BESS will store unused energy to release as required; capacity is opened up without a DNO upgrade.
Incorporating a battery helps with grid load management, and with additional use of solar, businesses can capitalise on renewable generation to decarbonise fleet operations. Solar car parks (SCPs) further reduce business dependence on the electricity grid, enabling onsite generation.
At times when a lot of solar energy is available, having onsite storage means excess is not wasted. Of course, this is the principle of larger scale storage solutions at the energy system operator (ESO) level. A report by energy expert and assurance provider DNV showed that as variable renewable energy sources increasingly provide power to the electricity grid, the need for short-term flexibility will double.
DNV said fluctuating demand from some sectors, including transport, will require new ancillary services such as synthetic inertia products and fast frequency response. Market and regulatory frameworks will also need to be adapted to support these technologies.
Achieving the necessary level of flexibility will require innovative market designs and advanced tariff schemes to incentivise automated demand response, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) and behind-the-meter storage systems. Lithium-ion battery technology is set to play a dominant role, offering three times more storage capacity than hydropower and pumped storage by 2050.
