To lead a collaborative project your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size.

Your project consortium must include partners that perform the functions of an SRN site operator and an EV charge point operator (CPO) in England. One organisation can perform both functions.

The consortium can contain at least one UK registered micro, small or medium sized enterprise (SME) claiming grant funding on this application.

You will be made ineligible if your business falls under the Windsor framework.

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:

• business of any size
• academic institution
• charity
• not for profit
• public sector organisation
• research and technology organisation (RTO)

Project participants can also include, but are not limited to:

• transport sector stakeholders such as service area operators, road operators, charging equipment developers and suppliers, charge point operators (CPO), or EV fleet operators
• energy sector stakeholders such as Distribution Network Operators (DNOs), Independent Distribution Network Operators (IDNOs), Independent Connection Providers (ICPs), energy suppliers, generation, storage or distribution equipment or system developers, flexibility system operators
• IT, digital and cyber security stakeholders, for example, energy management, monitoring and sensing system developers and operators
• infrastructure owners
• investors
• end users

Businesses can only lead on one application, but can collaborate on any number of applications. Other organisations can collaborate in any number of applications.

Your project must:

• have a grant funding request of between £500,000 and £3 million
• start funded activities by 1 July 2026
• represent a novel solution to power, grid and operational constraints to public EV charging provision, faced at all purpose trunk road (APTR) cold spots and Motorway Service Area (MSAs) along the Strategic Road Network (SRN) in England
• complete funded development and real world deployment activities by 31 March 2028 in line with standards or requirements
• operate the solution safely with appropriate maintenance and customer support (self funded) for at least three years from 31 March 2028
• be demonstrated at one or more MSA sites, or one or more sites within one mile of the SRN, so as to reduce or eliminate an APTR cold spot area

Any funded organisation needs to carry out their project work in the UK and must intend to exploit the project results from or in the UK.

At the end of the funded development and deployment period, you will be required to submit a report for public dissemination summarising:

• your project objectives
• confirmation of deliverables: planned against achieved
• your benefits review: expected, realised and anticipated in the operation period
• project performance review: highlights, challenges faced and lessons learnt

A further report will be required at the end of the three year period of operation summarising:

• performance and use of the innovation during the operating period
• how you have used your projects results to inform wider charge point roll-out, future operations and business plans

Commercially sensitive data can be redacted for public dissemination, but you must be willing to act as a public case study to build sector capability.

Your reports must include high quality images that can be used for dissemination by government and Innovate UK in future publications.

The aim of this competition is to:

• test novel whole systems concepts in a real world setting, which address electric vehicle (EV) charging power challenges along the Strategic Road Network (SRN) in England
• develop and demonstrate innovative solutions addressing short to medium term grid and operational constraints to EV charging provision, faced at all purpose trunk road (APTR) cold spots and Motorway Service Areas (MSAs) along the Strategic Road Network (SRN) in England
• enable at least 12 EVs (primarily cars and vans) to access ultra rapid (150kW or more) charging at SRN sites on motorways and APTR in England
• build sector capability and foster a shared focus on improving Electric Vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure on the SRN in England
• widely disseminate learning which can enable industry to address power, grid and operational challenges to EV charging provision along the SRN in England

Your proposal must:

• produce a detailed plan of deployment addressing short to medium term power, grid and operational constraints to the roll out of public ultra rapid EV charging for at least one site on the SRN in England
• develop and deploy the solution at one or more MSA sites, or one or more sites within one mile of the SRN so as to reduce or eliminate an APTR cold spot area, within the funded period
• continue to operate that solution with appropriate maintenance and customer support (self funded) for at least three years beyond the end of funding
• address the challenges of public EV charging interoperability and the need for compatibility for users across the SRN in England
• show that you understand relevant design requirements
• consider the safety of users of the SRN in England and other affected groups, in line with standards such as GG 104 – Requirements for safety risk assessment
• report and disseminate learnings from your development and deployment activity to build sector capability, for example, through academic or industry papers, website and social media articles
• report and disseminate your learnings during the three years of operation
• agree to take part in monitoring and evaluation activities run by the funders or their agents, if requested
• understand that information you provide for monitoring and evaluation may be included in published evaluation reports in aggregated format
• provide open data for all charge points installed in your projects, in line with Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 guidance – GOV.UK

Your project may integrate multiple technology solutions and stakeholders using a whole systems approach to address one or more of the following challenges:

• increase delivery of additional ultra rapid EV charging serving the SRN where it is needed most, at APTR cold spots and MSAs
• increase the available power at constrained SRN sites in England for ultra rapid public EV Charging, especially from renewables
• manage imbalances between EV charging peak demand, against energy supply constraints
• increase energy and EV charging resilience by considering site-wide power requirements at SRN sites in England
• reduce EV charging costs for consumers at SRN sites in England
• consider electric heavy goods vehicle (eHGV) or coach charging requirements in addition to the minimum requirement for provision to support 12 EV cars and vans at 150kW or above

Your project must develop and demonstrate a novel solution to grid, power and operational barriers which prevent sites in APTR cold spots and motorway service areas (MSAs) from simultaneously charging at least 12 EVs (cars and vans) at 150kW or more by 2030.

Your project must focus on:

• improving grid constraint challenges along the SRN in England
• ultra rapid 150 kW or more charging provision, primarily for cars and vans
• deploying the solution in at least one site experiencing these challenges on an APTR cold spot or MSA
• demonstrating capability to replicate and enable wider roll out of solutions along the SRN in England

Your project can include technologies such as, but not limited to:

• distributed energy generation, excluding biomass or solutions which create further emissions
• private wire or private networks
• grid boosting technology
• energy storage systems
• energy management systems
• advanced monitoring solutions collecting real time data
• demand response tools

Your project can focus on one or more of the following:

• a whole systems approach integrating multiple solutions to address grid constraints faced by the SRNs EV charging ecosystem
• solutions which address an individual element of this ecosystem
• a place based solution addressing site specific challenges, which can be replicated along the SRN in future
• solutions to grid challenges addressing multiple sites

Innovate UK will hold an online briefing via Zoom on Tuesday 11 November, noon-1pm: click here to register for a place. A recording and slides will be available afterwards.

If you want help to find a project partner, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Transport team or Infrastructure team.