Monthly Archives: January 2020

UPS Order 10,000 ARRIVAL eVans – With V2G?

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In a press release earlier this week UPS announced that:

UPS today said its venture capital arm, UPS Ventures, has completed a minority investment in Arrival, which makes electric vehicle (EV) platforms and purpose-built vehicles that offer a highly competitive value proposition when compared with both traditional internal combustion engine vehicles, as well as existing EVs. Along with the investment in Arrival, UPS also announced a commitment to purchase 10,000 electric vehicles to be built for UPS with priority access to purchase additional electric vehicles.

ARRIVAL has also released this video:

UPS invests in Arrival and orders Generation 2 Electric Vehicles from Arrival on Vimeo.

One thing that other news reports seem to have missed is that ARRIVAL are members of the Innovate UK Vehicle to Grid Oxford consortium (V2GO for short):

Arrival is a technology company fuelled by the ambition to make EVs the new normal. Driven by a team curated from the world’s most renowned technology and automotive brands, Arrival have taken a blank canvas and turned it into something extraordinary. Designed from the ground up, Arrival has created electric vehicles as they should be – simple, smart, modular. One skateboard platform, easily scaled, easily manufactured, easily turned into multiple vehicle types. This completely unique approach is what will pave the way to delivering premium, autonomous ready, electric vehicles on mass without a premium price tag.

Arrival will be developing the vehicle-to-grid enabled light commercial vehicle for project V2GO. This will be used for the real life assessment of V2G.

Here’s Katherine Collett from the University of Oxford explaining the benefits of combining vehicle-to-grid technology with a fleet of electric delivery vans:

Hence one cannot help but wonder whether any of the thousands of ARRIVAL vans that UPS have just ordered will be equipped with V2G capabilities? If so we have just the thing for charging and discharging them in our car park:

DSC_0460

Perhaps UPS would like to order a few of those for research purposes?

Honda and Moixa Announce V2G Pilot Project

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According to a Honda press release yesterday:

Honda is installing five bi-directional electric vehicle charging points at Islington Town Hall in London, in partnership with smart charging specialists, Moixa. The initiative will help Islington Council electrify its entire vehicle fleet; part of its efforts to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030.

This is the first project resulting from the collaboration between Honda and Moixa, which was announced at Geneva Motor Show in 2019. The strategic partnership forms a significant part of Honda’s Electric Vision strategy to deliver industry-leading innovation through a portfolio of energy management products and services in Europe.

The bi-directional vehicle-to-grid (V2G) chargers incorporate Moixa’s GridShare smart software, which optimises EV battery charging when grid power is cheapest and cleanest. The software can also aggregate groups of plugged-in EVs to provide battery power to the grid when it is most expensive and carbon intensive. When EVs are plugged in to all the chargers, the smart technology can provide enough energy to power the base load of Islington Town Hall.

The press release was accompanied by an image showing a CCS connector plugged into the front of an anonymous vehicle with a Honda badge:

However a Moixa press release about the Islington project had a somewhat different emphasis:

At Moixa, we’ve hit the ground running in 2020, unveiling a new smart EV charging project to optimise Islington Council’s fleet at the town hall. This is an exciting first step in our partnership with Honda, to deploy smart EV charging and management solutions across Europe.

We’re working with Honda to support Islington Council achieve its ultra-low emissions zone (ULEZ) standard across its fleet of 500+ vehicles. The council’s goal is to electrify its entire fleet, cutting 1,400 tonnes of dangerous carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions every year. This project will reduce harmful air pollution, save money for essential services and help Islington achieve its 2030 net-zero carbon emissions target.

and a rather different image:

That looks suspiciously like a CHAdeMO connector plugged into the front of a Nissan e-NV200 van, with Simon Daniel and Chris Wright from Moixa looking on in the background!

According to Chris, who is Moixa’s Chief Technology Officer:

The EV revolution will put millions of ‘batteries on wheels’ on our roads in the next decade. By using AI-driven charging technology, we can intelligently manage these fleets of batteries, securing lowest-cost charging and highest-impact carbon savings. Our project with Honda and Islington shows what is possible and provides a blueprint for all large organisations to follow.

Whilst according to Honda Motor Europe’s Project Leader of Energy Management,
Jørgen Pluym:

As the shift towards electrification accelerates, we must continue to innovate with projects like these – helping to drive awareness and uptake of charging solutions and advanced vehicle-to-grid technologies. Honda is committed to promoting sustainable future energy management in Europe, and this project in Islington represents an important part of our vision for future energy solutions.

It looks to me as if Islington Council already possesses one or more Nissan e-NV200’s, but I suspect they will have to wait quite a while for a V2G enabled Honda, especially if it’s vans that they’re after!