The North East’s Switch EV electric vehicle trial is one of eight national trials of electric & hybrid vehicles funded by the Technology Strategy Board’s £25m Ultra Low Carbon Vehicle Demonstrator Programme. This programme is part of the national strategy to reduce carbon emissions from car and light commercial vehicle use which currently makes up 13% of the UK’s carbon emissions. The programme’s primary objective is to understand what barriers there are to mass adoption of ultra low carbon vehicles such as electric cars. Switch EV is a consortium lead by Nissan which sees Newcastle University, AVID Vehicles, Liberty Electric Cars, Smith Electric Vehicles and Simon Bailes Peugeot working together to deliver 44 new and innovative electric vehicles onto the roads of the North East. The trial started in November 2010 and extends until May 2013. In that time members of the general public are invited to use the vehicles for 6 months as they would their conventional petrol or diesel powered cars.
The trial is somewhat unique nationally in that it is operating in conjunction with the Charge Your Car ‘Plugged in Places’ project This is installing publically accessible charging infrastructure for EV drivers throughout the region. Drivers of the Switch EV vehicles will now have real options about when and where they charge up. Their homes can be equipped with the latest domestic charging units, they can also have access to the on street charging posts or take advantage of the fast chargers being installed around the region. These enable the cars to be 80% charged in about 20 minutes. This infrastructure environment enables the research team at Newcastle University to confirm the performance and suitability of the vehicles and infrastructure, and understand the perceptions of the drivers over their 6 months experience of the vehicles.
The Switch EV research team have equipped all the vehicles with loggers that track the vehicles and how they are driven 24 hours a day. They also track where the cars are charged and how much energy they are consuming. The team will also be meeting with the drivers to understand their experiences with the cars and judge their suitability and the potential barriers to their mass adoption. The findings from the trial will be shared with the TSB to help them build the national picture and will also be used by the consortium partners to confirm & improve their EV offering.