Regulations: electric vehicle smart charge points

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/regulations-electric-vehicle-smart-charge-points

With the new Smart Charge Points regulations coming into effect on 30th June 2022 S&P products are fully compliant with all aspects of the regulations and do not require any additional firmware updates or hardware modifications. We are also working hard towards being fully compliant with the additional security regulations which will come into effect on 30th December 2022. These measures are important in paving the way for widespread EV adoption and we are proud to be able to support you and your customers in this transition. If you have any questions, then please do get in contact and we can answer these.

How do these regulations support the UK’s energy grid?

Implementing a more flexible and smarter energy system will support managing the fast increase in electricity demand from the transition to electrical vehicles, as well as enable easier integration of more renewable electricity generation into the energy system.

What do the regulations require?

Off-peak charging 

New charge points will incorporate a pre-set default charging hours that are outside peak hours (peak hours are on weekdays between 8am and 11am, and 4pm and 10pm). This feature aims to help encourage all current and future EV owners to participate and support the new regulation.

This feature will not only allow the National Energy Grid to achieve a better supply balance but also allows drivers to benefit from less expensive energy rates, depending on their energy provider and plan.

As EV charging time varies according to each driver and their lifestyle, the pre-implemented default settings can be overridden directly in the S&P charger app. You have full control over your charging patterns!

Randomised Delays

New chargers will feature a randomised delay function. This will prevent all charging points from initiating charging at the same time. The random delay can be up to 10 minutes every time the EV starts or stops charging. So, you may experience that your charging session will not start at the exact scheduled time and should take this into account when checking the charging status.

You can skip the randomised delay by manually overriding it each time the EV starts charging, and this can be done directly in the S&P app ensuring that you are in control.