Already experts in the electric vehicle (EV) charging space, the Duku team discovered a lack of purpose-designed charging points and infrastructure in the maritime industry. With widescale electrification of leisure craft and larger vessels on the horizon, an Innovate UK Net Zero Living Programme grant enabled Duku to conduct pioneering research into waterside charging needs.
The maritime charge point project grew from Duku’s earlier involvement in an Innovate UK-supported EV charging programme that resulted in the installation of retractable or ‘pop-up’ equipment in Dundee and Plymouth. Duku then built upon that experience to design EV charge points offering better accessibility for disabled people, and improved chargers for homes and fleet depots.
Cable management is key to accessible EV charging and the team realised it is equally important to the maritime industry. The same was true for its pop-up charge point technology. The limited charging infrastructure available for watercraft was largely based on modified EV equipment, including CEE/IEC 60309 sockets (so-called ‘Commando sockets’). Suboptimal installation means it is not unusual to find charge points that are corroded, unused, or in locations where vessels cannot manoeuvre to within cable distance.
Duku saw the potential for the development of purpose-designed technology, and the opportunity presented by the Net Zero Living Programme’s user-focused design funding competition run in conjunction with the Design Council. The project began with user testing, observing the few maritime charging designs that were in use and identifying the challenges related to them.
Andrew Aylesbury, Director of Duku, says: “The problems included tidal variation, salt water and location. Users predominantly want marine charge points on pontoons, not fixed shoreside, often at the end of the grid, where there is limited capacity. Then we considered the working environment and huge variance in vessels, from small dinghies to water taxies.”
Without the £58,000 Innovate UK Net Zero Living Programme grant funding and the wraparound support it includes, Andrew believes the project would not have happened. Its success relied upon the collaboration of sector experts, including harbourmasters, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the University of Plymouth.
“Attempting this kind of speculative research without Innovate UK support and getting access to those experts would have been difficult. But Innovate UK is interwoven into the maritime industry and all the stakeholders know the projects it supports, so it gave us an enormous amount of credibility,” Andrew says.
Maritime optimisation
Duku quickly understood the challenges of the maritime working environment. It meant looking at charging point user requirements anew, focusing on practicality, robustness and health and safety.
Working closely with the Design Council, Duku created several concepts and ultimately progressed to a design focussing on a slimline form to reduce footprint and minimise the waterside hazard posed by trailing cables. The team also explored the potential for additional infrastructure utility. Having supplied electricity to the charge point, it made sense to add in lighting, Wi-Fi boosters and environmental sensors, for example.
The major innovation was around modularity. Relatively few electric vessels are in service today, but the market shows signs of expanding quickly. Duku therefore designed a basic charge point with twin Commando sockets for immediate installation, with the potential to retrofit a pop-up fast-charger to meet future demand.
The project ended with a developed concept that we thoroughly market researched. We asked what people thought of it, and ranked and scored all the features we’d put in. That gave us an end-point design that we’re now ready to move on with.
– Andrew Aylesbury, Director, Duku
Planning for tomorrow
Bridging the gap between maritime charger concepts and their installation raises regulatory questions. Funded by Innovate UK through round 6 of the Clean Maritime Demonstration programme, Duku is now working with low-emissions consultancy Cenex and several local authorities on a feasibility study to define the regulatory landscape. Andrew identifies grid capacity and the challenges of putting new infrastructure into what are often historic harbour sites among key factors for consideration.
In addition, the more powerful electric propulsion units likely to be installed in future vessels will require different charging infrastructure to today’s craft, and making provision for that now avoids costly construction and regulatory work later. The market is already changing rapidly, with increasing interest in retrofitting older vessels with electric power. Andrew believes: “…a huge electric maritime market is coming, and we can be at the forefront, creating properly designed, dedicated equipment for it.”
Done properly, maritime electrification brings with it multiple environmental benefits. Electric vessels are quieter, they are emission free and less likely to pollute waterways, and the relative ease of electrifying existing craft compared to road and air vehicles means older vessels need not be scrapped. Well-chosen charging infrastructure will serve the industry’s burgeoning needs now and be ready for the growth that Duku predicts into the next decade.