WCA March 2024

Technology News

BT pilot repurposes EV charger from street cabinet 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 broad band and phone cabling. This will be the first step in the roll out of new technical trials, exploring the potential to upgrade as many as 60,000 cabinets to help meet government sustain ability targets and decarbonise the transport system in the UK. • Operational – as a dedicated BT Group venture or in partnership with others Although the initiative is in its early development stages, it 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 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 kerb side and exploring how we can address key barriers customers are currently facing. Working closely with local councils in Scot land 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

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 40 spokes per minute In the new generation of all-in-one reducing machines from Amba, the rotary wire straightener has been rearranged and is now positioned directly ahead of the cutter, behind the reducing section and the wire-feeding unit. This avoids transversal forces acting on the form-rolled wire during the feeding motion, and the wire retains the level of straightness with which it leaves the straightener. At the same time, very tight roundness tolerances of between two and three hundredths of a millimetre are attained. The machines can improve the straightness of single- and double-butted spokes, as used in electric and cargo bikes, for example. The machines can produce up to 40 spokes per minute. According to Georg Haas, sales manager at Amba, the demand for this type of reducing machine has been rising: “The booming electric and cargo bike market has led to a growing demand for butted spokes. These are spokes that are thicker at one or both ends. Compared to non-motorised bicycles, spokes for these bikes are subjected to much higher loads because the bikes are ridden at higher speed and often used to transport heavy loads. Therefore, the spokes have to be able to cope with higher forces, especially during braking.” There has been increasing demand for single-butted spokes – with a thick end at the hub and the usual diameter of 2mm at the rim. For wheel manufacturers, these spokes provide the benefit that, while the spoke-hub connection is strong enough to accommodate the higher torque, they can still use rims of standard design. Double-butted spokes – with two thick ends – are predominantly used in high-end bicycles. The advantage of these spokes is that they save weight and reduce windage. Amba Aachener Maschinenbau GmbH www.amba.de

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March 2024