The FEVER project team exhibited a solar photovoltaic (pv) powered, off-grid, solution for electric vehicle (EV) charging on Saturday 16th March 2024, as part of the University of Southampton’s Science and Engineering Festival (https://www.sotsef.co.uk/). This event was delivered as part of the national British Science Week.

Some of the FEVER research team at Southampton assembled and supported a 2kW solar pv array, supplying an off-grid power electronic inverter, that in turn stored energy within a lead-acid based energy store. The energy store was then used as the source to supply a 3kW EV charging point, used to charge a Kia Niro EV.

(Thank you to Dr Anil Madhusudhanan, Dept. of Mechanical Eng, Uni. of Southampton, for providing his research vehicle for the trip. This EV was purchased as part of Dr Madhusudhanan’s recent grant award from the Royal Society, Research Grant RGS\R1\231218).

Members of the public visiting the stand could learn how to plug in, initiate charge (enabled and disabled via use of a matched RFID card), and ultimately stop charging, and what the benefits of the provision of such off-grid charging facilities are:

1. Avoids the significant queue, hence delay, in achieving a grid connection[1];

2. Avoids the costs associated with a grid connection (e.g. a 2MW project may cost £200,000[2]);

3. Enables renewable energy developers to sell their clean energy at a premium price as a ‘fuel’ directly to EV users, rather than to the grid as electricity generation. This improves the commercial viability of renewable energy developments, and will encourage community led initiatives.

Related discussions also highlighted that a key research focus of FEVER is the further development of a novel off vehicle energy store, that enables the capture of all renewable energy and subsequent capability to meet and supply all EV charging demand. The lead acid system, noted above, is only for demonstration and is not viable for an actual EV charging station, however FEVER is exploring hybrid energy stores comprising, for example, lithium-ion and lead-acid batteries integrated with flow cell batteries, capable of both short-term cycling and longer term (possibly seasonal) storage.

The FEVER Team also held a related panel discussion, “Charging Ahead: Electric Vehicles – Promises and Problems”, where we were delighted to have Dr Alan Whitehead MP (Southampton Test) and Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Net Zero, as part of our panel. There was lively discussion of a range of EV issues, including cost, sustainability and of Government policy to stimulate and promote EV uptake.