Lancaster tech company wins bid to deliver electric vehicle fleet smart charging

The Innovate UK funded grant will enable Miralis Data, and project partners Envisij and Mina, to move their smart EV charging from feasibility to testing on real fleets with and tackle emerging challenges.

The government, through its Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV), is leading the drive to address challenges associated with the transition to zero emission vehicles including the adoption by company fleets.

This project, named FCSC or Fleet Connected Smart Charging, will produce a solution that enables fleets and their host sites to transition to electric vehicles quicker and more efficiently.

Will Maden, research director at Miralis, said: “One of the biggest crunch points for larger fleets transitioning to electric vehicles will be managing the supply of electricity.

"Most fleet managers will face challenges including how much charge different vehicles require, whilst trying to balance the most cost effective way to charge, and ensuring that site capacity is not compromised.”

The project will balance the expected charge needed for a varied fleet with the site’s electricity capacity.

Energy management company Envisij will be partnering with Miralis to report real-time and projected site power capacity and site demand to Fuuse/Miralis. Miralis will devise a smart charging solution to optimise the remaining capacity, charging vehicles within cost and capacity parameters.

Committed to making paying for EV charging simple, EV payments startup Mina, will be focusing on home charging for fleets within the project, allowing the smart charging solution to be applied where fleets charge vehicles at employees’ homes.

Mina’s Fleet Charging solution already allows employees to charge at home, fleet managers receive one single invoice each month that captures both home and public charging together for their entire fleet.

Within the FCSC project, they will begin testing the benefits of smart charging fleet vehicles at employees homes for the first time.

Will added: “The results of our partnership with Envisij and Mina on this project could be a real accelerator for the electrification of fleets. We’re excited to break down the barriers to transition and make EV charging more accessible, cost-effective and easier to deliver.”

The project is set to kick off in August with a solution expected in spring 2022.