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November 24, 2020 In Batteries, Electric Vehicles, EV Charging, News and Events, Opinion, Residential, Solar, Solar PV

Octopus Energy Launch the Tesla Energy Plan

 

Octopus Energy’s Tesla Energy Plan has now ceased.  It has now been superceded by Octopus Flux.  Octopus Flux is an innovative electricity tariff that changes import and export tariffs throughout the day.  You can top up your battery with cheap electricity in the middle of the night, and earn money by discharging your battery to the grid at peak times.  Read our guide to Octopus Flux here.

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EVIEs Awards, Winners, 2020
November 3, 2020 In EV Charging, News and Events, Public Sector, Residential

Joju Charging win at the EVIEs Awards

It was a night to celebrate for Joju as our work was recognised with two prizes at the prestigious EVIEs Awards.

The EVIEs are the leading UK industry awards for those involved in the electric vehicle industry, and their remit is to “shine a light on innovation and excellence in the emerging EV sector”.  The awards reflect on the achievements of those companies and institutions engaged in delivering the electric vehicle transition.

The panel awarded Joju Charging the prize for “Contractor of the Year” in recognition of our work designing and installing EV charge point schemes for the Public Sector, homes and workplaces.  Joju’s Commercial Director, Joe Michaels said “We’re delighted to have received this award … it is a testament to the hard work put in by the team, and the partnerships we have developed with councils and charge point manufacturers.  We decided to start offering EV charge just over three years ago, and we are now delivering many hundreds of quality charge point installations each year.”

EVIES Awards, Installer of the Year, prize

The prize for “Public Sector Infrastructure Strategy of the Year” was awarded for the Central Southern Regional Framework – run by Hampshire County Council in partnership with Joju Charging as the installation partner.  Hampshire established the framework to deliver a coherent charging solution for public sector bodies across the south of England.  We are now engaged with 64 public sector bodies in the Framework region and have completed 400 charge points under major programmes for:

  • Surrey Police
  • Southampton City Council
  • Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council
  • Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Chichester District Council
  • Sussex Police
  • Reading Borough Council
  • Southampton University
  • Southampton Solent University
  • Test Valley District Council
  • New Forest District Council

The Framework also features an innovative fully-funded option, developed by Joju, which enables councils to install charge points at zero cost.

All in all, it’s been a great team effort and, naturally,  we’re all enjoying being recognised by the EVIE Awards.  But Joe is keen to stress we’re not finished there. “To be recognised as industry-leading installers in such a short time is a great achievement.  But the EV transition is just at the very early stages, and there is a huge amount still be done to electrify transport over the next decade.  That’s our mission”.

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Fully Charged, 2019, LIVE, Robert LLewellyn, Helen Czerski, Jonny Smith, Maddie Moate, Silverstone
May 28, 2019 In Batteries, Electric Vehicles, News and Events, Solar

Visit Joju Solar at Fully Charged LIVE 2019

Joju Solar will be exhibiting at Fully Charged LIVE again this year.  The 3-day event will be held at Silverstone Race Track from Friday 7th – Sunday 9th June.  The event is put on by Robert Llewellyn and the team behind the Fully Charged Youtube Channel, and will feature all the latest from the world of electric vehicles, and renewable technologies for the home.

We can safely say that last year’s event was by far the best trade event we’ve ever attended.  The expected audience was well exceeded and 65% of those turned up within the first hour of the first day.  When the doors opened at 10am, the surging crowds were more like a Black Friday sale than any renewable energy show we’d ever been to.

Fully Charged, Joju Solar, talking

That’s our stall with the orange posters on the right hand side.  We didn’t stop talking solar, battery storage and EVs all weekend!

What to expect this year

This year’s event promises to be even better; the venue is now double the size and there will be a wider range of activities.  The highlights include:

  • The ability to test drive the latest electric vehicles on the Stowe track. There are an anticipated 1000 daily test drives, but with 10,000+ visitors expected, you are advised to keep an eye on the Fully Charged website for details
  • Over 100 exhibitors. We’ll be there of course, but expect to see EV manufacturers, EV chargepoint industry, energy utilities, and other green transport solutions among the stalls.
  • Our stall wll feature the latest Tesla Powerwall with back-up gateway, Sunpower’s new super-high-efficiency 400W modules, our latest EV chargepoint products, including lamppost mounted ones.
  • There will be 30 live sessions across the course of the weekend, hosted by Fully Charged Presenters Robert Llewellyn, Jonny Smith, Helen Czerski, and Maddie Moate.
  • Our Technical Director, Dr Chris Jardine, will be talking about “Streetwise solar, storage and charging for suburban EV drivers” at 12pm on Saturday

So grab your tickets and come and say hello!  We’d love to talk to you about any new projects you might have, or simply catch up with our old friends and customers.  Hope to see you there!

Renewable Energy, News, October, 2018
October 31, 2018 In News and Events, Uncategorized

Renewable Energy News – October 2018

Recent weeks have seen dozens of stories about renewable energy hit the headlines. We have compiled our pick of the renewables news during October 2018.

12 years left to save the planet

The IPCC’s 2018 report into climate change has warned that if drastic steps are not taken in the next 12 years to curb global warming considerably, the risk of droughts, floods, heat extremes and poverty affecting millions of people will increase significantly. The world’s leading climate change scientists have indicated that urgent action is needed to limit the temperature increase to a maximum of 1.5C, in order to prevent irreversible damage to nature, in addition to climate-related poverty for hundreds of millions of people globally. Carbon pollution will need to decrease by 45% by the year 2030, which can be achieved by improved efficiency, an increase in the uptake of renewable energy, and a switch to electrified transport.

Will new diesel and petrol cars be banned by 2032?

This month, a committee of MPs have urged government ministers to bring forward the target date for banning new sales of petrol and diesel vehicles in the UK, from 2040 to 2032. Their reasoning for bringing the target closer is that they believe an earlier goal is achievable with the right leadership, and to stick to the 2040 deadline will mean the UK starts to lag behind globally in the switch to electric vehicles. Transport is currently the UK’s biggest source of carbon emissions, and car emissions are the primary cause in illegal pollution levels in many of our cities.

UK government announces subsidy cuts for EVs and hybrids

The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced that the plug-in vehicle grant, which was previously available on fully electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles, will be reduced significantly, or in the case of most hybrid models currently available in the UK, scrapped completely, under the new rules, brought in by 9th November 2018. Pure electric vehicles will go from a subsidy of £4,500 to a maximum of £3,500, with potentially a total abolition of the grant for any car after the next 35,000 low or zero emission vehicles are sold. Many have called for the government to rethink this decision if targets for low emission vehicle ownership by 2040 are still to be achieved. However, grants for the installation of electric vehicle chargepoints are unaffected.

3 million EV charge points needed by 2040

A report from Aurora Energy Research has indicated that around 3 million commercial and industrial charge points will be needed by 2040 to support the mass roll out of green vehicle fleets, with chargers installed in motorway service stations, public car parks and workplaces. The report also suggests that some of these charge points incorporating solar and battery storage technology to help generate and provide electricity when needed, could help them become profitable sooner, as well as helping to reduce some of the extra demand on the grid at peak times.

Solar energy setting new highs as coal use hits record lows

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) released the latest stats in October for energy generation in the UK between April and June 2018. The 4.65TWh of solar energy generated set a new record for solar in the UK, with a combined renewable total generation of 24.3TWh during the same period, which equates to almost a third (31.7%) of the total UK electricity generated overall. In contrast, coal contributed just 1.6% in this same period, which is a record low.

A third of UK utility firms are potentially already using onsite battery storage

A survey, carried out by energy supplier, Haven Power, has indicated that around a third of utility firms in the UK are already starting to implement sustainable energy solutions, by already having some storage batteries installed onsite. The survey also showed that some areas of the country seem to have a greater awareness of the potential of using these types of technology, with 75% of London-based utility firm respondents declaring they understood how to sell excess energy generated onsite back to the grid, compared with just 11% of respondents in Wales.

For more information on battery storage systems and how they work for businesses or in residential settings, click here.

Renewable energy news, August 2018
September 11, 2018 In Business and Commercial, Electric Vehicles, News and Events, Solar

Renewable Energy News – August 2018

The heatwave of earlier in the summer may seem a distant memory for most, but a change in the weather across the UK doesn’t mean that the world of renewables has stood still.  We have complied some of the many ways in which renewable energy has been making the news in August 2018.

The majority of Brits would renewable energy solutions at home

A recent YouGov poll has indicated that over 60% of Brits would be willing to install solar panels and home battery storage systems at their residences if there were greater assistance from the UK government. 62% of those polled said that they wanted to fit solar PV systems at home and 60% stated that they would be interested in buying a home battery storage solution, such as the Tesla Powerwall 2. With traditional energy prices rising again for many this year, it seems that more and more people are looking towards renewable energy solutions as a real and accessible answer to saving money on their bills and benefitting the environment. The results of this poll come in spite of last month’s news that the FiT tariff is expiring in March 2019, with no replacement incentives currently expected to be announced. However, the questions to UK householders were framed with an indication that the UK government would give greater assistance for these technologies to be installed or used in the home.

Facebook going 100% green by 2020

Facebook announced this month that they are aiming to be powered by 100% renewable energy by 2020, and will cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 75% over the same period of time. They are doing this by powering their global data centres with solar and wind energy exclusively, thanks to a record-breaking year of corporate energy purchases for them. Facebook claim that they will also design or upgrade their office buildings, both existing and new, to be more energy efficient and be powered by 100% renewable energy by their deadline at the end of 2020.

Having achieved their previous target of 50% renewable energy a year early (in 2017 rather than 2018 as originally planned), Facebook cite this latest goal as a continuation of their support for climate action and the Paris Agreement.

It will be interesting to see whether other tech giants, such as Google, try to follow suit over the next couple of years and make changes that benefit the environment too!

EVs in Europe break the 1m barrier

EV Volumes (the electric vehicle world sales database) have announced that the number of plug-in vehicles (pure EV and PHEV) across Europe have now surpassed a million in number, with an increase in sales of 42% compared to the same period in 2017.

Norway, Iceland and Sweden lead the way in terms of plug-in vehicle adoption so far this year, correlating with some strong incentives from their governments and a strong charging infrastructure already in place in many areas.

The number of electric vehicles across Europe is expected to surpass 1.34m by the end of 2018, which will be around 2.35% of all new car and van registrations; leaving plenty of room for further growth as the charging infrastructure improves in more countries and new incentives potentially become available in different nations.

Solar powered ice cream, anyone?

Solar ice cream van

Image credit: Bridgwater Mercury

An ice cream company based in the South West of England have become the first in the UK to fit out one of their ice cream vans with its very own solar PV system. More than a year in the planning and making, the Styles Ice Cream van uses roof-mounted solar panels to charge on-board batteries that keep the freezers, fridges and lights running when the van is parked up. On sunny days, the solar power generated provides 100% of the van’s needs, with a backup LPG generator used occasionally for short periods when the weather is not quite as kind.

With conventional ice cream vans, the diesel engine is often kept running most of the time to provide the power needed on-board, which is not only expensive, but also means the area around the van can be heavy with emissions. The ice cream company responsible claims that the system is saving them around £15 per day on fuel, plus any electricity hook-up costs when they park up at a country showground (up to £150) and they are making plans to roll out solar PV systems to the other ten ice cream vans in the fleet, in the near future.