EuroWire March 2024

Technology News

Pilot repurposes EV charger from street cabinet

kerbside and exploring how we can address key barriers customers are currently facing. Working closely with local councils in Scotland and more widely across the UK, we are at a critical stage of our journey in tackling a very real customer problem that sits at the heart of our wider purpose to connect for good.” Etc. at BT Group https://etcdigital.co

and power available to the unit. Once the cabinet is no longer needed for broadband, as nationwide full fibre rollout progresses, the broadband equipment is recycled, and additional EV charge points can be added. This allows re-use of existing infrastructure while deploying more charge points. Tom Guy, CEO of Etc. at BT Group, commented, “Our new charging solution is a huge step in bringing EV charging

The BT Group’s start-up and digital incubation arm – named Etc. – is to power up its first electric vehicle (EV) charging unit built from a street cabinet traditionally used to store broadband and phone cabling. This will be the first step in the rollout of new technical trials, exploring the potential to upgrade as many as 60,000 cabinets to help meet government sustainability targets and decarbonise the transport system in the UK. The pilot project, developed to help solve EV charging infrastructure needs by repurposing existing street furniture, will explore how this solution could be scaled to address the lack of chargers. There are currently only 53,000 public EV charge points on UK roads. BT Group research shows that more than a third of people would already have an EV if charging were less of an issue. The UK Government aims to increase the number of charge points to 300,000 by 2030. The first installation location is in East Lothian, Scotland, with further pilots to roll out across the UK in the following months. The trials will present Etc. with technical, commercial and operational considerations of bringing an EV charge point network online, including: • Technical – cabinet location, power availability, customer accessibility, digital customer experience and engineering considerations • Civil planning – location, local council engagement, permissions and physical accessibility • Commercial – public funding options, private investment, partnership and wider financial modelling • Operational – as a dedicated BT Group venture or in partnership with others Although the initiative is in its early development stages, it has already been celebrated on the global stage at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), being named an Innovation Honoree for 2024 for outstanding design and engineering. The charging solution works by retrofitting the cabinets with a device that enables renewable energy to be shared to a charge point alongside the existing broadband service with no need to create a new power connection. EV charging can be deployed to cabinets that are in use for current broadband services, or to those that are due for retirement, depending on the space

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March 2024