Innovating for Transport and Energy Systems (ITES) is a unique collaboration to develop greener, quicker and more affordable ways for people and goods to move around – in India, the UK, and beyond.

Backed by governments in both the UK and India, Innovate UK, and delivered in partnership with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), the initiative will for the first time bring together innovators, industry heavyweights, researchers, policymakers and investors from both countries to target the transport system’s toughest decarbonisation challenges, such as developing an electric vehicle-ready infrastructure.

Adopting a perspective across the whole transport and energy system, ITES will consider the multiple solutions needed to deliver cleaner seas, skies, roads and railways. Cutting-edge pilots and research programmes in India and the UK will test technologies and explore pathways for sustainable and clean transport – such as electric and hydrogen solutions – that are reliable, affordable and acceptable to businesses and consumers, as well as ensuring an infrastructure and energy generation system that can meet demand.

ITES aims to attract public, private and third sector partners and sponsors to ensure activities are market-led and solve practical problems, such as zero-emission fleets and last-mile delivery, and innovative charging technologies.

The first intake of 20 SMEs to deliver international clean transport solutions were recruited in Summer 2023 and are provided with a range of acceleration support – from start-up mentoring and incubation services, to market research and real-world pilots with Indian businesses that help prove new products on the ground. The programme will also help innovative businesses tackle scalability with bespoke go-to-market support and access to potential clients, funders, and investment.

The Electric Vehicle Energy Taskforce (EVET) was jointly established by energy and transport ministers at the Prime Minister’s Zero Emission Vehicle Summit, in September 2018. The Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership was asked to convene and facilitate the work of the Taskforce, chaired by Energy Systems Catapult chief executive Philip New with support from the wider Catapult.

The EVET made 21 key proposals to government and industry – following an unprecedented collaboration including more than 350 organisations – to effectively manage the integration of EV within the energy system as we transition to electric vehicles.

The proposals set out in this report are the result of the engagement, cooperation and goodwill of hundreds of organisations, spanning:

• Electricity distribution and supply
• Transport sector
• Energy retailers and EV charge point operators
• The auto industry
• Investors
• Local authorities
• Data and tech companies
• Consumer advocacy organisations
• Equipment EV manufacturers & EV battery makers
• Regulators
• Central and local government

In its formal report to the Government, the EVET sets out a range of proposals to enable the efficient integration of electric vehicles EV with the energy system during the electrification transition.

Three key priorities emerged:

1. The urgency of developing standards and codes of practice to enable interoperability and the sharing of data within the Electric Vehicle sector and with the electricity system.
2. The need for effective local and national planning and coordination to enable efficient investment, mediating the balance between future-proofing and asset stranding.
3. The criticality of smart EV charging; underpinned by a resilient network and clear market signals, to reduce the cost of supplying millions of EVs.

Manchester-based Evergreen Smart Power are an innovative Virtual Power Plant business, aggregating and controlling domestic energy loads resulting from electric vehicles (EVs) and heating to suit specific customer, market, generation and grid conditions.

Evergreen’s EV solution can respond to grid conditions, moving charging to off-peak hours to reduce strain on the network at peak times, while ensuring that EVs are sufficiently charged when needed. The solution also optimises other loads, such as heat pumps and electric heaters.

Energy Launchpad helped Evergreen develop their future roadmap through competitive landscaping, consumer insights/trial and detailed analysis with our Business Model Innovation team. This examined alternative target markets and revenue streams. Outputs were developed to be used for pitches to future investors.

Following this incubation support, Energy Systems Catapult then helped Evergreen develop and deliver a follow-on test & demonstration project called Flexibly-Responsive Energy Delivery with 250 consumers driving and smart-charging EVs at home – supported by our Consumer Insight team.

Watch the case study:

Evergreen Smart Power Co-Founder Andy McKay said: “Prior to this piece of work we had one main product. In effect this has identified two new product variants that address innovative opportunities and other areas that will move quicker than our long term market. This will translate into 3 separate platforms requiring separate teams.

“Energy Launchpad has allowed us to tap into a wide range of energy sector industry expertise with a support package tailored to our specific needs. It’s an opportunity every energy start-up would benefit from.”

UK Energy Research Centre commissioned Energy Systems Catapult and the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK to explore different pathways for reducing freight emissions from Heavy Goods Vehicles.

With little industry momentum and a severe lack of workable low emission prototype vehicles, the challenge was to develop an accurate and usable modelling tool to provide evidence that encouraged the UK transport sector to embrace cleaner alternatives.

Rather than focus on vehicle weights (like most existing models), we focused on the specific use cases (e.g. long-haul vs. local depot deliveries) to identify the technical specifications needed to achieve zero emissions and the infrastructure that will need to be in place to support the vehicle uptake.

The tool was used to engage the Department for Transport on:

• Including operators’ decision parameters and behaviours into modelling to better inform policy interventions and align operators’ choices with the required deployment of technologies and infrastructure.
• Assessing how policy decisions can support freight operators and  infrastructure roll-out to facilitate carbon-free powertrains.

Following project completion, we’ve used the tool to engage with the UK Department of Transport and wider industry to explore how they could benefit from enhanced freight modelling to inform policy making.