Zen Energy Optimisation for Electric Car Rental

To help accelerate the shift to low-carbon transport (and help meet the UK Government's goal of net zero emissions by 2050), the car rental and fleet sectors will need to electrify. For this to happen car rental companies will need to change the way they operate. For example, as electric vehicles are charged on-site, optimising electricity costs (e.g. charging during off-peak half-hour periods) will be essential. Similarly, the car rental business model requires a short vehicle turn-around to keep rental charges competitive. As companies move to fully electric fleets, optimisation of charging and encouraging behavioural change in car renters (for example incentivising rental discounts if renters charge the car before returning during periods of high returns) will become a key part of fleet management. In this project Samsung Research UK will work with Energy Saving Trust, Enterprise Car Rentals UK and Octopus Business Energy to conduct a feasibility study into creating a fully operational demonstration "rental car agency of the future" at Glasgow airport in 2021\. The feasibility study will assess the costs and benefits of various types of Electric Vehicle (EV) charger, EVs and battery storage units; as well as testing cutting edge machine learning and Artificial Intelligence approaches to optimising costs and minimising environmental impacts. We aim to show how far operational costs and carbon emissions could be reduced by switching a rental branch's electricity contract to one based on an "agile" variable rate, using "flexible" network connection contracts, installing battery storage, optimising vehicle charging and encouraging behaviour change in renters.