Innovate UK demonstrates how data ecosystems can support decarbonisation

Determining the direction of travel

We spoke to hundreds of stakeholders from a range of sectors about the issues they face in rolling out EV infrastructure and found that things often take far too long in the planning phase – with lack of unilateral data being a key concern. 

So, on the advice from Scottish and Southern Energy Networks (SSEN), we were able to narrow in on a great testing ground for our concept: Ullapool, a small but densely packed village port in Northern Scotland. 

The process was one of thoroughly auditing available datasets from the geography, transport, and energy sectors across a few key verticals, as Charlie explains: 

‘It was really a case of going in and trying to find appropriate datasets that were rich enough for our needs. So I spent a couple of weeks really going through to try and understand the quality of those data sets. What we were looking for was granularity. You want to have granular data that takes you down to the population level of a single street or postcode, while also remaining accurate’. 

Allowing machines to shake hands

The resulting tool is a proof of concept, but it’s a powerful one; it connects data from bodies that otherwise don’t connect, and turns it into insight. 

As Steven Steer, Principal Data Consultant at Zühlke, puts it: ‘It’s the machine equivalent of getting people to learn how to shake hands and do deals with one another; if you allow machines to shake hands and do deals, they can create economic markets that don't currently exist.  

‘If you don't let people talk’, he adds, ‘they can't do business. If you don't let machines talk, they can't do business either’. 

Since launching the EVIIA tool, international ecommerce and logistics giants have indicated that the resulting information would be useful for helping to prioritise EV fleet rollouts around the UK.  

Energy and transport sector bodies have been equally surprised:

• ‘I think this is quite a step forward’ – HITRANS 
• ‘I think for us the most valuable piece is bringing the data together and having a scalable way of accessing reliable data in a common format’ – Octopus Centre for Net Zero 
• ‘This is a really useful platform that pinpoints issues very directly and quickly' – SSE Renewables.

Perhaps the most striking outcome from the whole project, though, came directly from our test base itself – Ullapool. Dan explains: ‘One of the things that became very apparent from the prototype in Ullapool, was when the local community looked at it and immediately saw that there needed to be charge points in an existing car park to cope with summer ferry traffic.  

‘It was that sort of blinding “we've got to do something here” moment that only a connected data ecosystem can produce’. 

Our EV investment app in the news

• Fleet World, 'New app to help jumpstart electric investments to avoid EV brownouts'
• IoT M2M, 'Zühlke app shows where to install EV chargers'
• Investment Week, 'Beyond belief: let's make the Doubting Thomas the patron saint of green energy investment'
• Air Quality News, 'Increase in EVs could lead to more power cuts'