Driving Dundee's journey to sustainable EV charging

Context

Urban Fox partnered with Dundee City Council (DCC) to install low-impact, on-street electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure across the city. A prime location included a 10-bay hub at the prestigious Victoria & Albert Museum as part of the £1bn redevelopment of the Dundee waterfront.

As the 4th largest city in Scotland and home to over 148,000 residents, DCC has been a pioneer in the charging infrastructure landscape for over 12 years, driving EV adoption amongst its residents.

Some of Dundee’s key milestones include:

• Installing the UK’s first ever rapid chargers back in 2011

• Being the first LA to have over 100 EVs in the fleet

• Building the UK’s first purpose-built EV charging hub – Princes Street Charging Hub

• Being home to Ember, the first electric intercity coach service and installing the first 150kW chargers for these vehicles

• Being the first LA to switch to electric refuse collection vehicles (RCVs) and create a dedicated depot charging hub for them

So far, DCC has deployed over 100 chargepoints (as of October 2023).

Whilst supporting DCC’s commitment to becoming a net-zero city by 2045 and reducing its carbon reduction by 53% by 2030, the partnership was also an opportunity to develop and showcase the scalability, reliability and high network uptime of our retractable UEone chargepoint for residents without driveways.

Managing deployment, maintenance and operations

We installed 26 retractable UEone chargepoints, across Dundee, serving 52 charging bays within 9 hubs. This network supported the annual charging needs of up to 585 EVs.

The initial project ran for 2½ years, covering:

• Comprehensive product development, including prototyping and rigorous testing.

• Extensive infrastructure work, encompassing grid connections, civils and electrical work.

• Maintenance of the network, which was critical in ensuring optimal performance.

• Operations, including helpdesk services, back- office provision, payment gateway and app development.

• Collaborative initiatives such as: • Trialling carsharing using CoWheels electric cars and our charging hubs as a base in residential streets • Trialling parking bay sensors and the integration of parking and charging into a single app with Appy Way

The project has now been extended and additional chargepoints are being installled in residential streets and car parks (January 2024).

Overcoming challenges and risks

The main challenges were delays to the supply chain caused by COVID and Brexit which pushed back the overall project timescales by more than a year. This was mitigated by strong project governance and weekly status meetings which were held for the duration of the project.

One of the early risks to the success of the project was the uncertainty around utilisation, although there would have been no financial risk to the council as all project funding came from external sources.

Positive outcomes

Collaboration, coordination and cooperation across various public and private sector groups were key to the project’s success. We liaised with all key stakeholders throughout the project including remote and on-site installation and maintenance support.

The partnership delivered transformative results, including:

• Exceptional reliability: a 99.4% average network uptime (official OZEV statistics) across all locations.

• High client satisfaction: leading to an additional contract ORCs contract for more chargepoints in Dundee.

• Substantial value: local subcontractors carried out the civils, electrical and maintenance works therefore providing employment for local employees.

• Significant funding: significant capital from Balfour Beatty Investments as a result of the project outcomes, allowing us to fully fund the rollout of public charging infrastructure.

This illustrates how our commitment to innovation, exceptional service delivery and working collaboratively can aid local authorities with the transition to 100% EVs. By making EV charging accessible to all, minimising the streetscape impact and helping with carbon reduction, this project championed a long-term commitment to sustainable urban development.