Newcastle University is playing a leading role in the e4Future’s project; the world’s first, large-scale trial of vehicle-to-grid technology.

The £9.8m project announced in January 2018 by Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy minister Richard Harrington is led by Nissan and involves experts from:

• Newcastle University
• Imperial College, London
• Northern Powergrid
• UK Power Networks
• National Grid
• V2G aggregator Nuvve

The project is installing 1,000 V2G chargers, with a number of them installed at InTEGReL. Using these V2G chargers that allow bi-directional power flows, customers could offer their EVs to support a reliable and cost-effective operation of the power system in exchange of lower bills. The aim of e4Future is to identify and help overcome barriers to make this vision a reality. If successful, this project will be a game changer for both the transport and electricity sectors.

At the moment the number of EVs is too low to have a significant impact and it is estimated there will need to be more than two million electric vehicles on the UK’s roads if we are to meet our commitment to reduce carbon emissions then by 2030.

Assuming half of these are plugged into the grid using a 10kW V2G charger, and each EV battery can store 40kWh then this offers a potential energy storage resource of approximately 40GWh and around 10GW of power capacity– significantly bigger than any energy storage system currently installed or planned.

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It is envisaged that the InTEGReL site will facilitate a hydrogen filling station utilising hydrogen generated on site from the proposed 50-100 MW electrolyser.

The site’s close proximity to the A1, as well as Newcastle and Gateshead, would provide the opportunity to export hydrogen and develop a local refuelling station network enabling fuel cell electric vehicles to travel from London to Aberdeen.

Through data linkage and real time network simulators (RTNS), the electrical load of two new electric vehicle rapid filling stations, located in the centres of Newcastle and Sunderland, can be replicated on the InTEGReL site.

The city centre stations, which will be designed, built and run by Fastned UK, are both close to major routes and are to help meet charging needs for the growing numbers of electric vehicles (EVs) in the UK.

Rapid charging (known as “fast” charging in Europe), allows a typical EV to charge significantly faster than plugging in at home. Both the Newcastle and Sunderland sites will allow for up to six vehicles all charging at the same time.

Funding for the £4m project comes from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) UK Collaboratorium for Research on Infrastructure and Cities (UKCRIC) programme and the Department of the Environment’s Office for Low Emissions.

The Newcastle site at Wellington Street location is part of Newcastle University’s Newcastle Helix site and will help guide a research project on EVs.

In Sunderland, a site has been identified at West Wear Street to the south east of the Wearmouth Bridge and next to the A1018, which is one of Sunderland’s busiest central routes with more than 21,000 vehicles using it every day.