Lightspeed examined two use cases for deploying on-street EV charging: retrofitting existing lampposts and installing new ones. When retrofitting, the project was limited by the unmetered network infrastructure, making fast charging possible only through the integration of battery storage. For new installations, Lightspeed developed a purpose-built EV lamppost designed to support fast and rapid charging. In both scenarios, the project demonstrated the potential to offer flexibility services and smart charging capabilities to users of the solution.
What is the project about?
Lightspeed aimed to reimagine how the UK could roll out on-street public EV charging to support the adoption of electric vehicles and the decarbonisation of transport. Nearly 30% of UK households lacked off-street parking, and to enable the transition to electric mobility, the UK needed to rapidly scale up public charging infrastructure to meet both consumer demand and government targets.
However, the deployment of on-street charging was often challenged by network capacity limitations, local planning regulations, and concerns over increasing street clutter. While existing lamppost-based EV charging solutions addressed some of these barriers, they were typically slow, lacked flexibility, and were often costly, making them an unattractive option for many potential users.
How we’re doing it
All aspects of a bi-bidirectional charger were designed and developed during the project, which included:
Back-office energy management system
Communication, networking, and Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) integration
Charging hardware complying with industry standards
Testing of the hardware and software
To ensure that EV drivers were encouraged to use on-street charging facilities specifically for smart and bidirectional charging, we conducted a series of user research through quantitative surveys and qualitative customer interviews to understand customers’ needs. This helped to develop a commercial proposition and prototype.
Research validated our assumptions around barriers to on-street charging, customers told us the top barriers are:
Availability of charge points
Cost of charging
Reliability of charge points
Speed of charging
Rollout of bi-directional chargers was also explored and the following steps identified:
Product manufacturing
Product testing, safety and approval plans
Business models, billing and payments
Deployment plans
Route to market strategy
In summary, a prototype bi-directional charger was successfully developed which can be used in multiple car park settings to provide flexibility to electricity networks and financial rewards to end users.
What makes it innovative
Lamppost EV chargers already existed; however, these solutions typically offered AC charging at only 3–5 kW, limiting their effectiveness. Lightspeed set out to develop a first-of-its-kind, V2X-capable lamppost solution incorporating a multifunctional DC converter, integrated underground battery storage, and renewable energy generation.
The project also aimed to create an advanced control management system that could integrate customer needs, available grid capacity, and Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) to dynamically adjust charging capacity and provide flexibility services to the electricity network. This approach would enable a street of lampposts to function as a coordinated EV charging network.
This solution represented a significant innovation in the context of on-street public charging. Existing bi-directional DC-DC designs were limited, lacked sophisticated power conversion and control systems, and often suffered from interoperability challenges. While companies like Enphase and Wallbox were developing similar technologies, their chargers relied on AC transformers for bi-directional power flow and faced different technical limitations.
What we’re learning
At the end of the project, the following key outputs have been achieved:
Bi-directional charger prototype successfully developed with hardware and software components
Rollout plan developed with short list of sites, installation plan, network capacity, business models and route to market
Solution is suitable and can be deployed in other DNO license areas
Surveys and interviews with EV drivers to develop incentivisation model – drivers have a strong preference for cheaper price at point of purchase
Flexibility potential understood and calculated benefits to electricity networks and society
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