How battery energy storage can fuel the transition to high power EV charging

As the pace of electrification continues in the UK, we’re seeing a greater demand for higher-powered charging for longer-range vehicles, commercial fleets, eHGVs and electric buses. With power demands ranging from 150kW to 1MW, the number of high power charge points will inevitably need to increase.

It’s also inevitable that the higher the power required, the more strain is placed on the local grid. And often that power isn’t easily available. At Connected Energy, we’ve carried out extensive modelling for the HGV sector and the data tells us that there will be power challenges at many sites.

This is not surprising. Many of the locations which require high power charge points were not set up to anticipate this huge demand. And that applies as equally to traditional fleet, logistics and service depots as it does motorway services and truck stops.

In cases where grid connections are an issue, the traditional solution is upgrading the local grid capacity. However, what we’re discovering more and more is that this can be not only costly but brings added complexity and delays to projects. Sometimes it simply isn’t viable to get the power required. At other times we’ve talked to companies in locations where landownership issues were standing in the way – with cabling needing to cross roads and boundaries. None of which is an easy undertaking.