Optimise Prime is the world’s biggest trial of commercial EVs. It seeks to understand and minimise the impact that the electrification of commercial vehicles will have on distribution networks. It is developing technical and commercial solutions to save customer costs (estimated to £207m savings by 2030) and enable the faster transition to electric for commercial fleets and private hire vehicle operators. The project is also vital if the UK wants to meet its carbon reduction targets. The accelerated adoption of commercial EVs will save 2.7m tonnes of CO2, equivalent to London’s entire bus fleet running for four years or a full Boeing 747-400 travelling around the world 1,484 times. The flexibility provided by the project will also free up enough capacity on the electricity network to supply a million homes.
With businesses buying 58% of all new vehicles in the UK, it is expected that commercial vehicles will determine the speed of the transition to low carbon transport. Compared to vehicles used for domestic purposes, commercial EVs – i.e. vehicles used for business purposes, including the transport of passengers and goods – will have a much greater impact on the electricity network. Therefore, it is important that network operators, technology providers, fleet and transport companies work together to test and implement the best approaches to the EV rollout for commercial enterprises, while keeping costs low for network customers.
Find out more about Optimise Prime at the project’s website here: https://www.optimise-prime.com/
Led by global data technology solutions provider Hitachi Vantara and UK Power Networks, this three-year project will see up to 3,000 electric vehicles from Royal Mail, Centrica and Uber, supported by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, Hitachi Europe and Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions. It will be split into three trials, reflecting the three partner fleet use cases:
Optimise Prime is innovative in the following respects:
This industry-led Project will create a detailed understanding of the impact of commercial EVs and the opportunities for flexibility. This will allow licensees to accurately forecast and plan mitigations, including flexibility and profiled connections, minimising costs for the connected and connecting customer. Depot based tools and home charging strategies will allow fleet and PHV operators to electrify more quickly at a reasonable cost, without negatively impacting the distribution network.
Project Submission
Optimise Prime Project Submission – Network Innovation Competition 2018
Progress Reports
Project Progress Report – December 2019
Project Progress Report – June 2020
Project Progress Report – December 2020
Project Progress Report – June 2021
Project Progress Report – December 2021
Project Progress Report – June 2022
Deliverables
Deliverable 1: High Level Design and Specification of the Three Trials
Deliverable 2: Solution Build Report – Lessons Learned
Deliverable 3: Learning from Installation, Commissioning and Testing
Deliverable 4: Early Learning Report on the Trials
Deliverable 5: Interim Report on Business Models
View more project reports on the Energy Network Association’s Smarter Networks Portal