We are delighted to make the announcement that Solisco have won a competition which awards us with funding towards an exciting project! This opportunity will give us the chance to explore feasibility for EV charging infrastructure in an innovative and holistic way; incorporating clean technology with smart systems. Solisco’s projects create a fantastic collaboration between consortium partners – West Midlands Combined Authority, Keele University, Ecuity LLP, Mennekes/Driveenergy Ltd and EnergiMine.
Solisco’s SETCH – Smart Energy and Transportation Charging Hub project is part of the Electric vehicle charging for public spaces: feasibility studies competition, funded by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) in partnership with Innovate UK.
What Motivated Us?
Since starting up in 2016, Solisco has been heavily focused on private/commercial projects, however from the very beginning, we were keen to get involved with the public sector to bring inspiring ideas and create positive change to local communities.
Upon reading that “currently around 1600 premature deaths in the West Midlands caused by poor air quality…” Founders Parveen and Mark decided to get in touch with Mayor Andy Street, who had identified supporting the development and rollout of clean electric vehicles in the West Midlands automotive industry as a key priority.
The ambition is that the SETCH project would contribute to this priority by providing a clear visible signal of infrastructure capability enabling EV uptake and investment in EV development by the local automotive industry.
The project is being lead by a local entrepreneur Parveen Begum, who was born and raised in the West Midlands and now through her passion and expertise in Electric Vehicles and Environmental Sustainability, is keen to give something back to her community and to her industry. Since 2016, following her early years working for Tesla, Parveen became the CEO of Solisco, co-founding the start-up company with Mark Maurice, a Mechanical Engineer, Environmentalist, and early adopter of clean tech, renewable energy and electric vehicles. In 2015, Mark prototyped his very own solar powered carport to charge his electric vehicle. Later that year, his discussions with Parveen organically grew into a business idea. Together, they have the ambition to support and grow the economy to a low carbon emission economy.
“We are very excited to get our project off the ground and confident along with our consortium partners, that we will achieve some great results and insights to share with you early next year!” – Parveen Begum
The Funding Opportunity
As a first phase of an innovation funding programme worth £40m, 27 feasibility studies will analyse the application and impact of innovative technologies for EV charging.
In particular, 18 feasibility studies will focus on how a well-design, well integrated EV charging infrastructure in public spaces can help facilitate the adoption of EVs among local residents without access to home charging due to lack of off-street parking.
9 feasibility studies will instead focus on the application of Wireless EV charging to commercial users, reducing business disruptions to charge the vehicles and therefore increasing the attractiveness of the EV proposition.
These projects will define feasibility and sustainable models to maximise effectiveness and impact of infrastructure deployment. The wide variety of technologies and business models analysed in these studies will help implement a charging infrastructure that is affordable, dependable, and fair for all road users, and making owning an EV an attractive proposition for all.
In a subsequent phase of the funding round, the best projects will be competing for funding for implementation of real-world demonstrators.
Our Consortium
Solisco’s ethos is based on making a difference so everyone could enjoy true freedom when it comes to energy and transportation. They believe that working together in an industry that is ever changing is key, and therefore have made many exciting partnerships to bring their vision to life.
Solisco (www.solisco.co.uk) is a British start-up company founded in 2016. Solisco support the E- Mobility movement with cleverly engineered Solar EV-Port Solutions which tie together solar photovoltaics, smart components, software and services. Services include specialist e-mobility consultancy, design & planning, hardware & software supply, management of installation, operations and maintenance, as well as post-project analysis and reporting.
West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) (https://www.wmca.org.uk/) is an organisation comprised of 18 local authorities and 4 local enterprise partnerships working in tandem in order to devolve power from central power in Whitehall and re-distribute this to local authorities.
Keele University (www.keele.ac.uk) is a public research university located outside of Newcastle-Under-Lyme, Staffordshire and places a heavy focus on sustainability. The university placed 5th globally for performance in energy and climate change as well as ranking 17th in the global sustainability league table.
Ecuity LLP (www.ecuity.com) is a specialist consultancy firm that focuses on sustainable energy policy and covers regulatory insight, commercial strategy and the influencing of campaigns. Ecuity’s clientele includes BEIS, The European Commission, NGOs, technology innovators and utilities.
Mennekes (www.mennekes.co.uk) manufacturers of public and industrial charging hardware are specialists in intelligent e- mobility charging and are currently at the forefront of the sector, playing a pioneering role in the e- mobility sector.
EnergiMine (www.energimine.com)provides an energy trading service to large commercial and industrial energy users via the deployment of the blockchain and deep learning artificial intelligence (AI) models that currently manages $150 million worth of energy on behalf of 1,100 European sites.
