New collaboration to develop electric vehicle chargers with cloud control could ease transition to clean transport

As we switch to electric vehicles, with the sale of new petrol and diesel cars due to end in 2030, we will need more efficient, and integrated ways to charge our transport.

A new collaboration, funded by the Knowledge Transfer Partnership scheme, has been formed between the University of Nottingham and Kingsmill Industries, who are looking to expand the business into the development of clean-energy products.

Future electricity systems will include home based integrated electric vehicle chargers, solar panels, and energy storage. We will require electricity networks to control equipment to manage stability and congestion on the electricity grid. New electrical equipment which can be monitored and controlled using the cloud-based portal is being developed as part of this project and will allow Kingsmill to enter a new, rapidly expanding, marketplace.

Electric vehicle charging especially is an important challenge to future electricity systems. Name, and name, have been employed to work with Kingsmill on the project, as part of the Knowledge Transfer Partnership. They will work closely with University of Nottingham Energy Institute lead, Professor Mark Sumner, as well as Dr Christian Lumpner and Dr Minglei You, all members of the Power Electronics Machines and Control (PEMC) Research Group, to develop the electrical hardware for the charger and the software for the supporting portal.

Once installed, the cloud-connected charger will allow the customer to take advantage of Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technologies, allowing the car battery to contribute to network management. Customers will benefit from variable-tariff regimes, incorporate clean energy as part of a home system, and contribute to the national transition to net zero.