Project Summary

Our project will address accessibility challenges in Maritime EV-charging to improve charging infrastructure for the diverse users of boats & vessels. The challenging maritime environment adds a layer of complexity including tidal variation, busy working environments and demanding weather conditions.We have developed a ground-breaking accessible Auto EV-charger, in this project we will develop this technology specifically for Marine EV-charging. Demonstrators of the design with a strong emphasis on inclusivity & sustainability will be developed and tested in a real-world environment with a diverse range of stakeholders to inform the outcome.

Project Achievements

• Industry Research – Questionnaires to owners/operators, stakeholder interviews including Harbour Masters, e-vessel manufacturers and Plymouth University captured usage insights in this emerging sector. • Design Concept – Creation of a design concept that displays functional solutions to overcome potential barriers to EV adoption in this sector.

Conclusions

The maritime sector demands a new approach on EV charging hardware to meet their requirements and ensure adoption of a key Net Zero technology. This project proposes viable solutions to allow DC charging to be integrated into the marine environment and overcome hurdles associated with the large physical size of DC chargers in such a restricted space. Plus offer an assisted motorised cable system that significantly reduces the effort in moving the cable onto the vessel to charge in a busy, working environment improving safety and ease of use.

Next Steps

Our next milestone is a demonstrator produced to TRL5 to seek further industry feedback as we develop this design. We hope to continue our collaboration with industry stakeholders to bring cable management technology into this sector and provide Chargepoint Operators a design that has been created specifically for the marine environment and its users.