How CHH CoNeX will help keep 11 million electric vehicles on the road
Despite the backdrop of a pandemic and the disruption this has caused globally to the automotive industry, the electric vehicle (EV) market still saw growth throughout March 2021, accounting for 14% of new car sales.
The UK is seeing a growing number of electric vehicles on the road and while EVs currently only make up a small percentage of the UK’s total car fleet, National Grid expects 11 million electric vehicles to be on the road by 2030, which is a massive leap forward in the race to reach Net Zero by 2050.
While public charging infrastructure is steadily improving, it still has a long way to go. And adding to the complexity of a major infrastructure upgrade is the fact that a large majority of EV drivers will want to charge their cars at home. The new charging infrastructure required in the UK will require a massive shift to meet the demands of smart meter installation for EVs. And in order to cope with this demand, two things will be required: integrated cabinets and good managed services support for field services engineers.
Over the past few years, CHH CoNeX has played a pivotal role in the Government’s on-going smart meter rollout scheme, providing more than 850 cabinet and integrated rack systems for the North of England and Scotland as part of the first phase of the country’s smart meter rollout. Our engineering capabilities have been established over 30 years of designing and engineering rack, cabinet and enclosure integrations in different environments from large utility installations to domestic smart meters.
In addition, we have been providing critical managed services support to ensure that rapid installation deadlines can be met across the country. The meter deployment element of the project means field engineers can order all their vital tools, consumables and personal protective equipment (PPE) online for next day delivery. This enables the engineers to spend more time in the field carrying out smart meter installations much more efficiently.
Other major drivers for smart meter adoption include a growing interest in micro-generation systems and smart city applications. These trends are increasingly transforming the priorities of utility companies who are placing more of a focus on service-oriented smart metering solutions, rather than simply the underlying metering infrastructure. However, for these ambitious targets and demands to be met, the role of cabinet integration and managed services in enabling around-the-clock installations and servicing cannot be underestimated. This is why, as the EV evolution continues to take off in the UK, CHH CoNeX is ramping up capacity to deliver increasing rack and cabinet integrations along with managed services support.