Navetas and British Gas help drivers understand real cost of running an electric vehicle

Thursday 14th June 2012

There is little doubt that electric vehicles (EVs) are growing in popularity across the world, as governments look to incentivise the sale of EVs and drivers look for more cost-effective, environmentally-friendly ways of getting around.

In the UK, May saw significant growth sales of lower emissions vehicles rising by 31.8% compared to the same period in 2011. And EV sales are forecast to grow to 30,000 cars per annum in 2014.

But while EVs bring the promise of emission-free driving, there is still an energy usage to consider. While it is easy to see how much a diesel or petrol car costs from the rising digits on the pump display, until now, knowing how much it costs to charge an EV has not been possible. Existing home energy monitoring systems simply don’t have the capability to identify the electricity that is being used specifically for the EV.

However, that all changes this month, with a new Navetas and British Gas initiative that will enable households within a British Gas Plugged in Places region to understand how much energy their electric vehicle consumes.

For the first time, households will have visibility of the real running costs of their EV, just as they would if they filled up at the petrol station. British Gas will install Navetas energy monitors at the incoming electricity mains supply and customers can use a consumer internet portal to view the data from any location.

As Dan Taylor, Director of New Ventures at British Gas, explains, Navetas will help customers “monitor the energy consumption of their electric vehicle and total household by providing information in pounds and pence.”

Through the initiative, British Gas will also work with the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) to evaluate the impact of electric vehicles in terms of energy demand and distribution network management.

It’s an exciting move for Navetas. Not only does this initiative demonstrate the unique capability of our energy disaggregation technology in being able to identify the electricity usage of individual appliances, vehicles and devices, but also the critical role it can play in informing green strategies and energy distribution across the smart grid.

< Back to Blog