The Park and Flex project aimed to explore the use of electric vehicles (EVs) in car parks to provide flexibility services, enabling the efficient integration of low-carbon demand and generation while avoiding costly network reinforcement.
What is the project about?
Park & Flex aimed to unlock the potential of V2X-enabled electric vehicles (EVs) in public car parks—an underutilised resource with the capacity to reshape how flexibility services are delivered. By leveraging emerging technologies and infrastructure, the project explored new ways to support the transition to a smarter, low-carbon energy system.
Through collaboration with key stakeholders, we worked to develop and test real-world flexibility products and customer propositions. Initial findings suggested that these innovative concepts held commercial promise in principle. However, uncertainty remained around customer engagement and willingness to participate, prompting the development of trial-ready propositions for live demonstration.
Park & Flex marked a step toward reimagining the future of mobility—empowering customers to play an active role in the energy system and redefining how EVs and public car parks are used to support network flexibility.
How we’re doing it
The project trialled the potential of bi-directional EV chargers in car parks to provide grid flexibility. The goal was to help defer costly network reinforcement, accelerate the connection of low-carbon technologies, renewable generation, and storage, and deliver benefits to consumers, businesses, and flexibility providers.
The project sought to go beyond a basic technology demonstration by testing consumer willingness to engage with vehicle-to-everything (V2X) propositions in real-world environments. It also explored viable business models to support the long-term adoption of these solutions.
Target user groups included:
Car park stakeholders, who would need to invest in and deploy V2X-enabled infrastructure.
Individual EV drivers, who would participate in V2X propositions by offering flexibility services through their vehicles while parked.
What makes it innovative
With significant battery capacity expected to be available in car parks, Park and Flex aimed to become the world’s first V2X proposition designed specifically for drivers in long-stay car parks. The goal was to demonstrate new applications for V2X flexibility and explore how parked electric vehicles could support the grid while generating value for stakeholders.
Although the project did not progress to the demonstration phase, its scope was ambitious—seeking to open new opportunities for charge point and car park operators. These included the potential for faster, more cost-effective grid connections, as well as access to new revenue streams by encouraging customers to rethink how they interact with EVs and parking infrastructure.
Innovative aspects of the project included:
Developing business models that could generate sufficient value from flexibility services to offset operational costs and support upfront capital investment.
Designing customer propositions that provide real-world incentives to encourage participation and promote wider uptake of electric vehicles.
What we’re learning
Throughout the project, we explored the customer propositions and business models necessary to enable V2X delivery and incentivise consumer participation. Our analysis showed that long-stay settings offered the greatest value—estimated at approximately £4,000–£5,000 per charger—followed by medium-stay environments. As a result, the demonstration phase was scoped to focus on long-stay car parks, with the potential for a second trial to explore medium- and short-stay use cases, should future opportunities arise.
Business model analysis conducted during the Alpha Phase indicated that V2X chargers can offer a compelling return on investment by ‘stacking’ multiple flexibility revenue streams. Engagement with car park owners and fleet operators provided valuable commercial insights into current perceptions of V2X. However, it also highlighted limited market appetite for investment at this stage, primarily due to the relatively low number of V2X-capable vehicles currently in circulation.
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