Electric vehicle (EV) charging startup Mina has secured a development partnership with Evergreen Smart Power to simplify EV charging or apartment block residents.
This project has been partly funded by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) in partnership with Innovate UK, as part of the £10 million Catalysing Green Innovation Programme.
While on-street charging for households without driveways has been a major focus of research, there has been comparatively little attention paid to the UK’s 9 million flats residents, who generally do not own a parking space said the firm.
Through this project, Sheffield-based Mina and Evergreen Smart Power aim to launch a new business model that will enable apartment-dwelling consumers to pay a fixed monthly fee for a chargepoint for their parking space, including all the energy needed to charge their vehicle.
Abdul Chowdhury, Head of Innovation and Industrial Capability at OLEV said “We are excited to be supporting this innovative project as part of our ambition to put the UK at the forefront of the design, manufacture and use of zero emission vehicles.”
The OLEV funding award will enable Mina and Evergreen Smart Power to progress this development, and carry out the modelling, evaluation, and prototyping necessary to persuade residents and facilities managers that there is a sustainable business case that meets each party’s needs and will work in the long-term pursuit to transition towards EVs.
Chris Dalrymple, co-founder of Mina added: “We’re delighted to have been given this vote of confidence from OLEV and Innovate UK, and we’re really excited to be working alongside Evergreen Smart Power to create a truly innovative business model. Apartment residents have previously found it difficult to switch to cleaner, greener Electric Vehicles and we can’t wait to deliver a solution that makes charging their car radically simple.”