EVs in the news
There’s been a lot of chatter around electric vehicles over the last couple months, the headline piece of news being the change in date for the ban on the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles. The government has brought forward this date by 10 years to 2030, a significant but necessary change if the UK is to meet its net zero ambitions by 2050.
Elsewhere in the news, Norway EV car sales accounted for 54% of all new cars purchased in 2020. This marks the first time a country has sold more electric cars than petrol. In Germany, Volkswagen tripled sales of its battery-only cars in 2020, putting the German government well on its way to reaching its goal of having 7 to 10 million electric vehicles on German roads by 2030.
Closer to home in Coventry
Travelling back across the North Sea, AppyWay were recently featured in The Times and The Daily Mail, discussing our work with Coventry City Council, preparing their city’s parking for the onset of the EV revolution. We wanted to highlight this work, but rather than look at EV bay enforcement, which Coventry has no immediate plans to begin, we wanted to focus on how our sensor technology and insights are helping the council tackle their immediate electrification challenges.
Coventry City Council originally engaged with our team to bring real-time availability of parking to the city. This technology was expanded to all EV charging bays in Coventry city centre. There are currently 24 rapid chargers across the city, including in key locations like taxi ranks. These are visible to anyone with the AppyParking mobile app and via VMS signage that guides drivers to parts of the city with available parking and available charging.
The sensors have a number of benefits, from a driver point of view, they have full visibility of where charging is available in Coventry. Drivers that are yet to make the transition to electric, can rest assured knowing that chargers are everywhere, available, and therefore alleviating their fear that they will not find charging or will run out of charge while using an EV. This builds trust in electric vehicles, encouraging more drivers around Coventry and the West Midlands to make the switch.
An electric taxi charging in Coventry
Preparing for an EV future
For the team at Coventry City Council the AppyWay sensor insights enable the council tackle their current EV challenges whilst helping them prepare for the future. Originally this data showed the council occupancy information such as whether a vehicle was parked there and for how long. These insights were recently enhanced through an integration with the charge point provider. The council can now see whether the bay is being used, whether the charging facility was used, and how long for.
Insights like these allow Coventry City Council to carefully manage their city’s pathway to electrification. The council can interrogate bay data throughout the coming months and years, ensuring policy is prepared, consulted upon, and published in advance of infrastructure implementation. Infrastructure can then be rolled out sustainably, both environmentally and financially, with charging bays matching the level of electric vehicle uptake in the city.
Enforcement may come along later, but for now the AppyWay sensors and bay insights are helping Coventry City Council get ahead of the EV revolution and providing residents and business with the confidence they need to ahead of the 2030 ban on petrol cars.
Keen to understand more about how councils, charging providers, fleets, and integrators are facilitating the EV revolution in the UK? Download our eBook now.
If you’d like to learn more about our work with Coventry or to chat to one of the team, you can contact us here.
