Trial Updates

December 2019

Report published on Go Ultra Low Oxford project

The University of Oxford’s Transport Studies Unit (TSU) has published their research on the Go Ultra Low Oxford trial phase.

The report found that by the end of the trial two-thirds of respondents preferred the chargers they were assigned to over alternative solutions, indicating that they had successfully adjusted to “their” charging solution. Many electric vehicle (EV) users also creatively adapted parking routines, driving styles, route choices and the use of heating and air conditioning to successfully optimize battery charge and range,

Although most respondents reported that the engagements around charge point installations were positive, there was a considerable amount of concern over Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) for EV parking bays, which were perceived negatively by many stakeholders. Where no EV parking bays were in place, some EV users were successful in engaging with their neighbours to negotiate preferential access to the parking space with EV charging. The report recommends that multiple charging installations on one street, for example lamp post charging, could make these informal arrangements more likely to succeed.

To scale up the project and replicate it in other cities, the report set out a range of issues to be overcome, such as:

Being aware of the range of hidden costs associated with maintaining public charging infrastructure;
Not limiting infrastructure roll-out plans to wealthy neighbourhoods alone;
Having a plan of how to reduce roll-out delays caused by having multiple stakeholders and regulation;
Determining how to achieve collaboration across public and private sectors to be able to expand roll-out;
Having a plan to achieve interoperability across charger types and reduce unnecessary barriers being caused to users;
Determine how to use lamp post more since it was the most popular and cost-effective charging solution option.

You can find the full report, and all the interim reports, on the Transport Studies Unit website.

March 2018

Oxford EV Charging Network Goes Live..

This month our network of publically accessible on-street EV chargers is going live across the city.

Charging points at West Street, Lake Street, Stockmore Street and Southfield Road are already up and running and ready to use!

More chargers will be going live in March - for details of charger locations see our Charging Point Map.

To use the chargers you will need to register with New Motion to receive your free RFID swipe card - then simply swipe and plug in to power up your electric journeys!

You can also call 020 3868 1036 for instant access, and download the free MyNewMotion app for details of chargers across the UK and Europe.

All our public chargers will soon be visible on Zap Map and the New Motion charger map.

September 2017

Go Ultra Low Oxford Launch Event

Thank you to everyone who joined us on 14th September for our trial launch event - it was great to see so many of our trial volunteers. Robert Llewelyn (Fully Charged, Red Dwarf) and Dr Tim Schwanen (University of Oxford) Cllr John Tanner (Oxford City Council Board Member for a Clean and Green Oxford), and many of our project team joined us to celebrate all the progress we've made so far.

Simplesocket - Ubitricity

Our first 12 Ubitricity 'simple sockets' have been fitted to lamp posts, and 3 more will be installed before the end of November. The sockets can only be used with a special 'Smart Cable' which reports the amount of energy used to Ubitricity for billing. See our charger pages for more information.

Evolve post chargers - APT

Charging pillars have been installed on Stockmore Street and Kineton Road. The next step is for the electrical connections to be completed by SSE, who will be carrying out this work. Chargers on Lake Street and Bedford Street need some additional upgrades to the electrical supply which we will have more information on soon.

August 2017

Our first chargers appear in Oxford!

We started installing chargers for the trial in August;

Evolt Home Chargers & cable channels - APT

5 home chargers and cable channels have now been installed at properties around Oxford, and our trial volunteers have begun using them to charge.

Chago pro station – Ensto & Franklin

Free standing charging pillars have been installed in Vicarage Close, Frenchay Road, Sandfield Road and Juxon Street. The next step is for the electrical connections to be completed by SSE, who will be carrying out this work over the coming weeks.

Go Ultra Low Oxford in the News

In August Go Ultra Low Oxford appeared on BBC South Today and in the Oxford Mail when we announced our first installations.

Many thanks to our trial volunteers who appeared in pictures and interviews!

July 2017

New Motion Appointed to manage Go Ultra Low Oxford Chargers

Oxford City Council have appointed the New Motion as our charge point network operator - responsible for managing billing, maintenance and repairs for 20 of our new chargers.

New Motion started in the Netherlands, and brings a wealth of experience from the Dutch EV charging market to our project.

New Motion will be using a renewable energy supplier for our chargers - helping us to make Oxford's EVs even greener.

Trial interviews

The first interviews with all our trial volunteers have been completed by Dr Brendan Doody from the University of Oxford Transport Studies Unit. As part of the trial we want to get feedback from our volunteers on how easy and convenient the chargers are to use.

February 2020

Register your interest in phase two