Telecoms giant BT, specifically their awkwardly named UK digital incubation team, Etc., has today “powered up” their first Electric Vehicle (EV) charger under a 2-year pilot, which is one of potentially tens of thousands that could be established by repurposing Openreach’s old fixed broadband street cabinets.
The operator has been planning the pilot since mid-2023 (here), although the process of actually getting it underway didn’t officially start until January 2024 (here) – a few months later than the original plan. The core idea is for BT and Openreach to “convert or upgrade” up to 60,000 street cabinets (from a potential pool of 90,000). BT previously clarified to ISPreview that the focus here is on their FTTC (VDSL2) / DSLAM broadband cabinets, rather than older Primary Connection Points (PCP).
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 copper broadband services, or in those due for retirement, depending on the space and power available to the unit.
Once the cabinet is no longer needed for broadband, as the nationwide deployment of full fibre (FTTP) lines progresses, the broadband equipment can then be recycled, and additional EV charge points added to replace what went before. Naturally, this isn’t going to work in every location, since not all cabinets are suitably positioned and there may be other obstacles too (e.g. issues of council approval, road access, physical location etc.).
Likewise, street side chargers need to be kept as small as possible, which means that they’ll only be able to support slower charging speeds (up to 7.8kW). We should point out that a lot of Openreach’s existing cabinets typically use no more than a few hundred watts, but that power supply can be upgraded and often without needing major works.
First BT Trial EV Charger Goes Live
Fast-forward to today and the first EV charging point has, as previously expected, just gone live at an unspecified location in East Lothian, Scotland. The charger has been installed for use by local residents, who will be able to charge their EVs “at no cost” until 31st May 2024 as part of the pilot. The pilot will focus next on West Yorkshire, with ambitions to scale up to 600 trial sites across the UK.
EV drivers can use the charge point by downloading a trial app from Apple’s App Store or the Google Play Store (no links for these were provided). Customers who download the app at the location as part of the trial will naturally need to ensure they have a 4G or 5G (mobile broadband) capable handset and an active data plan or pay-as-you-go data services.
The app was developed by Etc. in conjunction with EV drivers and includes various features, such as visibility of EV chargers across the UK, alongside real-time pricing, availability and charge speed, the ability to start, stop and monitor charge sessions via the app and to filter by connector type, kW speed and charging network. EV owners can connect their car to the app to get live updates on battery levels, smart estimated costs and charge times, and access their charging history.
Throughout the pilots Etc. at BT will test elements ranging from the digital customer experience to engineering and technology choices, planning and local engagement, operational and commercial options. Interestingly, the project claims to have “identified up to” 4,800 street cabinets that could be used for potential upgrade in Scotland, which is almost double the 5,052 public EV chargers that already exist in Scotland (Zapmap’s data).
Tom Guy, MD of Etc. at BT Group, said:
“With our research showing that 78% of petrol and diesel drivers see not being able to conveniently charge an EV as a key a barrier to purchasing one, and the UK behind government-set sustainability targets, it’s critical that we start looking at existing infrastructure to drive innovation at speed. These trials present a unique opportunity to tap into existing assets to drive the important transition to electrification in the UK, and we’re proud to be working with local councils in East Lothian and more widely across the UK at this critical stage to play our part.”
Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Transport at Scottish Government, said:
“This is an exciting and innovative development in the provision of electric vehicle charging so I’m really pleased that the first trial in the UK is taking place in East Lothian.
This government is committed to supporting people to make the switch from petrol and diesel vehicles, and our vision for Scotland’s future public EV charging network highlights the need for private sector finance and delivery to build on our significant investment in the network to date.
I’m really looking forward to seeing more partnership working like this as we continue to help people in Scotland to make greener transport choices.”
The move supports the UK Government’s ambitions to increase the number of EV charge points from almost 60,000 today (Zapmap data) to 300,000 by 2030. Access to charging is currently creating a significant barrier to EV purchase for many. BT Group’s recent research found that 60% of people think the UK’s EV charging infrastructure is inadequate, with 78% of petrol and diesel drivers saying not being able to conveniently charge an EV is a barrier to adoption.
At the same time BT and Openreach’s own staff, particularly their engineers, may also benefit from being given preferential access to the chargers in the future, although it remains unclear precisely how this will be handled. Openreach is currently in the process of upgrading all of their c. 30,000 strong fleet of UK diesel vans and cars to EVs by March 2031 (4,000 have already been done).
However, at the time of writing it remains unclear how much BT will charge consumers to fill up their EVs, which is somewhat of a contentious issue given the high price of electricity and the tendency of some EV charging networks to charge astronomical sums (this does vary, some are much more affordable). The number of chargers they end up deploying may also depend, at least in part, on how much public subsidy they can access from key government schemes (around £1.6bn of public funding has been committed up to 2030).