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V2X Innovation programme: bi-directional charging demonstrations

Opens:
21/3/2023
Closes:
10/5/2023
Sectors:
Automotive & Transport
All
Project Size:
a maximum of £1.56 million

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) will invest up to £9.4 million in innovative Vehicle to everything (V2X) energy small scale demonstration projects, under Phase 2 of the V2X Innovation Programme. This is part of the Flexibility Innovation Programme within the £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio.

Innovate UK are delivering the V2X Innovation Programme on behalf of DESNZ.

The aims of this competition are to:

  • demonstrate innovative V2X hardware and software solutions using new business models with real-world drivers in a real-world setting
  • trial new flexibility propositions for a range of consumer use-cases using on-road electric vehicles (EVs)
  • unlock and expand the energy flexibility potential of EV bi-directional charging technologies in the UK
  • accelerate commercialisation of V2X technologies and services
  • increase business and consumer interest in V2X energy
  • bring together diverse stakeholders across the energy and transport sectors to overcome barriers to V2X deployment

Your proposal must:

  • deliver a minimum 6 month demonstration with real-world drivers in a real-world setting using on or off-vehicle bi-directional chargers
  • demonstrate using between 10 to 50 bi-directional charging units
  • trial innovative V2X services for domestic or non-domestic use or a mixture of both
  • trial an innovative customer proposition such as behind the meter services or grid services
  • deliver a Trial Report at the end of the project

In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process. This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated.

Eligibility

Your project

Your project must:

  • have a maximum grant request of £1.56 million
  • start on 1 October 2023
  • end funded activities by 31 March 2025
  • carry out all of its project work in the UK
  • intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
  • involve a minimum of 2 collaborative grant claiming organisations

You must only include eligible project costs in your application.

Under current restrictions, this competition will not fund any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any Russian and Belarusian entity as lead, partner or subcontractor. This includes any goods or services originating from a Russian and Belarusian source.

Lead organisation

To lead a project your organisation must:

  • be a UK registered business of any size
  • collaborate with at least 2 other UK registered organisations

More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules.

Academic institutions cannot lead.


Project team

Project participants can include, but are not limited to:

  • transport sector stakeholders such as vehicle manufacturers, charging infrastructure providers and operators
  • energy sector stakeholders such as distribution network operators (DNOs), energy suppliers, flexibility system operators, equipment or system developers
  • IT, digital and cyber security stakeholders, for example mobility as a service, or home energy management
  • end users and infrastructure owners such as local authorities and fleet operators both public and private

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:

  • business of any size
  • academic institution
  • charity
  • not for profit
  • public sector organisation
  • research and technology organisation (RTO)

Each partner organisation must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service by the lead to collaborate on a project. Once accepted, partners will be asked to login or to create an account and enter their own project costs into the Innovation Funding Service.

To be an eligible collaboration, the lead and at least one other organisation must apply for funding when entering their costs into the application.

Non-funded partners

Your project can include partners that do not receive any of this competition’s funding, for example non-UK businesses. Their costs will count towards the total project costs.

Subcontractors

Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.

Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.

You can use subcontractors from overseas but must make the case in your application as to why you could not use suppliers from the UK.

You must provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with you. We will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor.

All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total project costs.


Number of applications

You can only lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in any number of applications.

The aims of this competition are to:

  • demonstrate innovative Vehicle to everything (V2X) hardware and software solutions using new business models with real-world drivers in a real-world setting
  • trial new flexibility propositions for a range of consumer use-cases using on-road electric vehicles (EVs)
  • unlock and expand the energy flexibility potential of EV bi-directional charging technologies in the UK
  • accelerate commercialisation of V2X technologies and services
  • increase business and consumer interest in V2X energy
  • bring together diverse stakeholders across the energy and transport sectors to overcome barriers to V2X deployment

V2X solutions for on-road vehicles are in scope for this competition, including cars, vans, buses, freight, special-use vehicles such as emergency response and refuse collection vehicles.

Your proposal must:

As part of your project you must deliver a Trial Report at the end of your minimum 6 month demonstration period.

The Trial Report must contain a detailed report for use by government organisations addressing the following Research Questions, and an Executive Summary suitable for public dissemination. A first draft report containing contents list, introduction, method and early findings addressing the Research Questions must be submitted by 31st March 2025. The final version of the Trial Report must be submitted by 30 June 2025.

If any of these questions are not relevant to your project you must explain why in your application.

Research Questions

What type of energy flexibility did the project deliver?

You must include:

  • the V2X use case being trialled (users, vehicles and location archetypes)
  • specifications of V2X equipment used or integrated in the trial for example, vehicles, chargers, heat pumps, Photo Voltaics (PV) and battery storage, including model, capacity, age, rate of charge and discharge, response time and EV battery state of health
  • the market propositions being trialled, including behind the meter, (vehicle to home, building, vehicle, load) or grid services (vehicle to grid)
  • permitted customer preferences, for example minimum state of charge and override functionality
  • proposition communication methods, for example activation, providers and stakeholders involved
  • tariff information for all charging and discharging events

To what extent was the project successful in increasing energy flexibility?

You must include:

  • a description of the methodology used to assess the impact of the trial, including the use of a counterfactual group or similar
  • quantity of equipment, users, locations, vehicles and flexibility transactions delivered
  • travel behaviour of triallists and relationship to flexibility delivered
  • a summary of the charging and discharging behaviour exhibited during the trial
  • a summary of the adoption of and response to the tariffs applied
  • a description of any technical and system barriers encountered
  • a cleansed dataset of charging and discharging transactions delivered by all chargers funded through the project

Your summary of charging and discharging behaviour exhibited must include:

  • energy transferred and losses experienced
  • power (half hourly intervals)
  • time of day and day of week
  • relationship with tariffs
  • use of consumer override
  • vehicle state of charge before and after charge and discharge events
  • local generation and flexible assets, for example ambient temperature for heat pump or PV interaction

How has the trial met your commercial ambitions?

You must include:

  • a description of your business model and its rationale
  • what impacts the trial has had on your business model
  • a description of any economic barriers encountered
  • exploitation plans and timeframe

What were the experiences of participants in the trial?

You must include:

  • anonymised triallists information – sample size and demographics
  • perceptions of V2X - before and after trial
  • motivations to participate in V2X
  • V2X barriers and enablers, for example user interface, accessibility, policy, incentives, economics – before and after trial
  • changes in behaviour as a result of the trial – charging, discharging, travel, unintended consequences due to external factors
  • benefits received (actual and perceived) by triallists as a result of participating in the trial
  • a description of any behavioural barriers encountered

Portfolio approach
We want to fund a variety of projects across different charging protocols (DC CCS, DC CHAdeMO and AC). We call this a portfolio approach.

Within each charging protocol (DC CCS, DC CHAdeMO, AC) the highest scoring application will be successful subject to reaching the 70% quality threshold. The remaining funding will be allocated as per the highest scoring ranked applications.

High scoring proposals are likely to integrate a number of innovative solutions to address bi-directional charging barriers and facilitate electricity system flexibility into a single demonstration project.

Specific themes

Your project can focus on one or more of the following:

  • bi-directional charging equipment compatible with a wide range of EVs
  • bi-directional charging equipment using DC CCS, CHAdeMO or AC protocols
  • cost reduction of compatible bi-directional charging equipment or deployment costs
  • trialling new business models to increase the range of V2X use-cases, for example in public charging locations or for freight vehicles
  • trialling new V2X commercial propositions for example in new markets, such as V2H, V2B or for new services or stacking multiple revenues
  • providing valid and reliable data justifying revenue predictions for a range of market actors in the V2X ecosystem
  • exploring the opportunity for electric road vehicles, beyond cars, buses and light goods vehicles to provide quantifiable flexible energy services, building or on-site energy management and the grid

This list is not exhaustive.

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