Project Summary

Local Authorities and Charge Point Operators face the challenge of electric vehicle (EV) charging bays being blocked by internal combustion engine vehicles (“ICEd”).  This prevents EV drivers from charging, and is particularly detrimental to EV uptake amongst households without driveways.  Traffic wardens cannot be present 24/7, and hardware-based solutions have cost and scale limitations.This project shall test the real-world effectiveness of Charge Saint, an app that allows EV drivers to report charging bay misuse directly to LAs/CPOs, including its ability to integrate with CPOs’ back offices and traffic wardens’ handheld devices, and enable LAs/CPOs to improve their charging infrastructure.

Project Achievements

Charge Saint underwent development and testing before launching in May 2024, news of which was covered by several EV driver associations. Approximately 50 LAs and CPOs were invited to trial Charge Saint and provide their feedback. EV drivers were also approached about Charge Saint at public-facing events. Real- world reports received from members of the public were reviewed, and any technical issues and feedback swiftly resolved and pushed in an app update. Options to integrate with CPO back offices to confirm live charger status, and to alert traffic wardens to blocked charging bays in real time, were explored with industry-leading partners.

Conclusions

This project has resulted in the launch of an affordable solution to charging bay blocking that has spawned a grassroots movement amongst EV drivers and attracted commercial interest from CPOs and LAs. Charge Saint has amassed over 1,000 downloads thus far, and the high quality and frequency of reports received has verified both to Charge Saint and prospective customers that this is a viable approach to tackle charging bay misuse. The consistent recommendation of Charge Saint between EV drivers on social media, and commercial enquiries by CPOs who were not part of the project, have exceeded all expectations. EV drivers now have confidence that – at last – something shall be done about bay-blocking. Charge Saint shall vastly improve charger availability, reducing “charging anxiety,” and in turn drive EV uptake and local transport decarbonisation.

Next Steps

Charge Saint is already in discussions with several CPOs and LAs regarding commercialisation. Meetings are scheduled with key personnel introduced through the TRIG programme’s Policy Leads, which shall explore opportunities to work closely with more LAs going forward. Several CPOs have now approached Charge Saint with serious enquiries about procuring its services. Negotiations are ongoing, and the consortium is hopeful of being able to announce its first customers by the end of the year. Charge Saint has also forged strong connections with providers of other EV and traffic-related services to CPOs and LAs, with whom scope for collaboration has been identified and shall be explored further to create new services and revenue streams for Charge Saint. Additionally, Charge Saint shall commence work on the next steps of its development roadmap, which have been devised based on observations and feedback from the TRIG project.