Project Summary

Centre for Net Zero will test the use of dynamic electricity prices to support affordable public electric vehicle charging, address grid congestion and successfully integrate cleaner vehicles into local transport systems. It is collaborating with Octopus Energy Group’s public charging platform, Electroverse, to expose drivers to real-time price signals to incentivise charging when and where it is most beneficial to local networks. This represents the first phase of a multi year study exploring the full potential of electric vehicles
as ‘floating resources’ to help balance the future electricity grid.

Project Achievements

This project investigates how dynamic pricing can use energy when the wind is blowing and the sun is shining to: Deliver demand flexibility from public charging, matching demand to variable renewable supply. Pass on low wholesale prices to consumers, helping to address the affordability gap between private and public charging. EV flexibility could absorb over 15TWh of otherwise wasted wind and solar by 2030 – more than Slovenia’s total energy demand. We expect hours of surplus renewable generation to increase as deployment outstrips grid capacity, potentially representing a majority of hours by 2030. This could create congestion on the grid, leading to instability on local low-voltage networks, the need for network reinforcement, and ultimately higher costs for consumers, unless demand becomes more responsive. Centre for Net Zero and Electroverse delivered a smart, digital solution: using an EV charging app to deliver temporal price signals for smart public charging. We test this solution through a randomised controlled trial to deliver national ‘plunge price’ events when wholesale electricity prices drop, which coincides with low carbon-intensity on the grid.

Conclusions

Across Britain, 110,000 customers were randomly allocated to one of four treatment groups: control (no messages or discounts), a message indicating that the grid is ‘green’, a 15% discount on the cost of electricity, and a 40% discount. The trial found: High price sensitivity – a 40% drop in price led to a 116% increase in charging, and the 15% discount led to a 30% increase. The non-price ‘greexn’ nudge saw no effect on charging. Discounts appeared to create demand during periods of excess renewable generation, rather than simply displacing demand between different chargers. We found regional heterogeneity, with larger effects in the North and East of England, mostly concentrated in cities – broadly in line with available charging infrastructure. Our trial shows that significant flexibility is possible from public charging if consumers are incentivised financially to provide it. This, in turn, helps to support a renewables-based system as well as lower running costs to support the adoption of EVs and more equitable access to their benefits.

Next Steps

This TRIG project has allowed us to demonstrate the potential of smart public EV charging to support local energy and transport systems. Building on this, next steps will scale up deployment with charge point operators, explore more targeted locational ‘plunge price’ events, and develop business models which pass on cheap electricity to drivers. Dynamic pricing can also apply to commercial fleets and use vehicle-to-grid technology in future, paying drivers to export to the grid.