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On-street pop-up EV charging hub trial proves a big success for Urban Electric

PAR002_123 • Apr 27, 2020

Today, British electric vehicle (EV) charging startup Urban Electric Networks Ltd announces the results of the trial of the UEone prototype on-street pop-up charging hub for electric vehicles. The trial was conducted in association with Oxford City Council, Co-wheels Car Club and product design agency and manufacturer Duku, funded by the Office for low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) and administered by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency.

Urban Electric pop-up charging hubs were developed specifically to solve the problem of ‘at home’ charging for the 43% of UK households who have to park their car on-street (8M cars and light goods vehicles across the UK). The hub is designed primarily for convenient overnight kerbside charging, when cars are parked for 12 hours or more in the street where people live.

The app-operated charge points deliver 7kW at each socket and retract fully underground when not in use, minimising the impact on the urban environment. Designed for 90% of residential streets, the unobtrusive design means there is no unsightly street clutter usually associated with traditional charging posts, and no special charging cable or equipment is required to operate the posts.

Councillor Tom Hayes, Cabinet Member for Zero Carbon Oxford, Oxford City Council, said “The learning from this trial will help Urban Electric to shape the future of the EV charging infrastructure industry, and I am thrilled that Oxford was able to be a part of through being the first city to trial this world’s first technology. I would like to thank everyone who was involved in this trial, especially the residents who shared their experiences and embraced this new technology. I am looking forward to seeing how pop-up street charging develops in the future and the next steps for Urban Electric.

Joanna Spencer, one of the trial participants said “A truly innovative idea, the Urban Electric hub is completely discreet and makes the business of charging really stress free and convenient. I hope pop-up chargers become standard in every street.”

From the post-trial survey conducted by Oxford City Council, the message from the responses was the importance of access to on-street charging. Qualitative feedback indicated that reliability, access and availability were the most important factors to consider when providing electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Respondents scored the chargers 4.3 out of 5 when asked if they would recommend them to family or a friend. 

Urban Electric cofounder Olivier Freeling-Wilkinson said “We were delighted to learn that all residents - not just EV drivers - were ‘very happy’ with the installation of a charging hub on their street, validating the pop-up hub concept as a breakthrough in on-street charging for electric vehicles.”


About Urban Electric

Urban Electric Networks Ltd is a British electric vehicle (EV) charging company formed in London in June 2017 by Olivier Freeling-Wilkinson and Keith Johnston. Voted Top 6 European Cleantech Start-up by Climate-KIC, the EU’s innovation agency, Urban Electric was founded on the belief that EV charging infrastructure should not detract from urban spaces. www.urbanelectric.london

For further information email keithj@urbanelectric.london or call Keith Johnston on +44 (0)7713941940.

Urban Electric retractable kerbside chargepoint trials achieve >99% network uptime

19 Oct, 2022
The extended trials of Urban Electric’s retractable chargepoint have demonstrated the viability of ultra-low impact on-street charging, achieving an official 99.4% average network uptime. *

Urban Electric trials free electric vehicle pop-up charging hub in Stafford

29 Jul, 2021
Urban Electric has been collaborating with Staffordshire County Council (SCC) and Amey to build and install four free electric vehicle charging bays at Holmcroft Library in Stafford, as part of the Department for Transport (DfT) funded £22.9m Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning & Transport ADEPT SMART Places Live Labs programme.

Electric vehicle chargepoint operator Urban Electric to launch its next capital raise to fund UK expansion

14 May, 2021
Urban Electric Networks Ltd (Urban Electric), supported and advised by Broadstone Capital Advisors Ltd, today announces that it has commenced a process to source new investment to assist the financing of its growing UK pipeline of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure projects. Urban Electric builds low impact charging infrastructure necessary to accelerate EV adoption in towns and cities across the globe. Backed by Innovate UK, the UK’s Innovation Agency, the company solves the problem of at-home charging for people without drives or garages with near-home ‘pop-up’ kerbside charging hubs. The UEone is the world’s first fully retractable chargepoint, designed for the 10 million UK drivers that park on-street - and more than 100 million across Europe. Deployed as fast charging hubs in residential neighbourhoods and public parking bays, the smart charge points minimise the impact on both the urban streetscape and the power grid. For local authorities tasked by Transport Secretary, Grant Schapps, with deploying on-street charging infrastructure in readiness for the 2030 prohibition on new petrol and diesel cars, Urban Electric’s fully funded own and operate business model offers a scalable and resource light alternative to reliance on government grants. “We all know electric cars are the future, but in less than 9 years you won’t be able to buy a new one in the UK unless it IS electric. We need more than 500,000 new public charge points for the 11m EVs that are forecast to be on the road by then, a large proportion of which will be low impact kerbside chargers. This is a great opportunity to be part of our exciting growth story as we scale rapidly to provide this vital infrastructure” said co founder and CEO Olivier Freeling-Wilkinson. Contact Alastair Lowe, Managing Director alastairlowe@bca-advisory.com About Urban Electric Urban Electric Networks Ltd is a British electric vehicle (EV) chargepoint developer and operator with a mission to build the world’s largest urban EV charging network. Voted Top 6 European Cleantech Startup in 2018 by Climate-KIC, Europe’s climate innovation agency. www.urbanelectric.london . Further information keithj@urbanelectric.london About Broadstone Capital Advisors Broadstone Capital Advisors offer Equity Capital Raising, Debt and M&A in the Transport, Energy, Digital and Healthcare sectors. The senior team has significant experience working at large global financial institutions and have worked on over 150 transactions with a combined value of $100 billion. www.broadstonecapitaladvisors.com

Urban Electric partners with World Land Trust to ‘plant a tree for every chargepoint we deploy’

By Urban Electric • 03 Feb, 2021
Urban Electric is pleased to announce a partnership with World Land Trust. For every Urban Electric chargepoint deployed, World Land Trust will plant, nurture and protect a tree in the urgent fight to redress the 64 million acres lost to deforestation each year in some of the world’s most threatened habitats. World Land Trust is active in 20 countries around the world including the UK and to date has planted more than 2.2 million trees. This partnership will see many thousands of trees planted over the coming years as Urban Electric expands its charging network across the UK and beyond. For more information, including ways you can also donate, visit www.worldlandtrust.org.
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