Public residential street kerb charging system

Transportation is one of the primary sources of pollution in the UK and globally. Electric vehicles are seen as the solution, and the mission declared by the UK government is to bring the UK to the forefront of the design and manufacture of zero-emission vehicles, with all new cars and vans to be effectively zero emission by 2040\. Data shows that more than 80% of all EV charging happens at home, during the night. However, 28% of the UK population and 38% of households within large towns and cities does not have access to off-street parking. As recognized by Road to Zero strategy, public on-street charging solutions that can be deployed across entire residential streets are essential for the successful reach of electric vehicles.

There currently exist attempts at addressing the issues of roadside charging. Two central problems for EV charging infrastructure installation are the clutter. The street chargers consume a large area of pavement, which is both a danger for pedestrians and an eyesore. Additionally, the scarcity of charge points is a significant issue.

Ideally, the EV charger would be located as close to the person's home as possible. So far, all of the existing solutions have their issues, which do not entirely solve the problems - most are either too expensive, or too complicated, or not universally applicable.

Within this project, Lesla in cooperation with Keele University intends to develop a prototype for its new WPT-Kerb system, a kerb embedded charging station based on the Lesla low-cost wireless power transfer (WPT) technology. This product is designed to be integrated into the kerb and provide wireless contact from the charging station to the charging cable. Thus, the charging station can be fully underground in a monolithic form wholly protected from the outside elements; it is virtually indestructible and can operate even if completely submerged.

The technology developed in this project can be used both as a final product for consumers (B2C) if sold by Lesla, or as an embedded module for other charging station manufacturers (B2B), who would include the WPT module in their products and their existing customer support systems.

The system will been designed to enable as many charge points as there will fit cars in the street.