FEEDING CHANGE

Using feeder pillars could be one way for councils to accelerate the rollout of EV charging, as a recent ILP ‘Light, Seen’ event discussed

By Nic Paton

The imperative for all of us to do our bit – and more – to curb global emissions was, understandably, high on the agenda at November’s COP26 climate change summit.

A key element of the drive to ‘net zero’ is taking polluting vehicles off our roads and switching to electric. Yet one of the challenges of encouraging people to make this transition is providing the reassurance that there is adequate electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure to meet demand.

Moreover, as Dean Wendelborn of Westminster City Council highlighted in Lighting Journal last summer, even if it were possible to scale up the option of in-column EV charging at pace – which may well be something local and national government has to grapple with in the coming years – there simply aren’t enough appropriate lighting columns on our streets to meet all the capacity demand likely to be needed anyway (‘Taking charge’, July/August 2021, vol 86, no 7).

One answer to this capacity conundrum, or perhaps one part of what is likely to be a complex, multi-faceted answer, could be embracing, and rapidly accelerating, EV charging via feeder pillars.

All of which made the recent ‘Light, Seen’ event on feeder pillars and EV charging by Alan Read, national sales manager at Premier member Charles Endirect, all the more topical.

NEED FOR EXPANDED CHARGING INFRASTRUCTURE

Light, Seen, to recap, is the series of online sessions that have been run by the ILP during the pandemic to give ILP Premier members an opportunity to talk about products, projects or industry issues, much as you would once have forged relationships over a coffee on an exhibition stand.

The aim has been for Light, Seen simply to bring together designers, engineers, service providers, manufacturers and specifiers, while also throwing some learning into the mix.

Alan opened his presentation by highlighting how the need for enhanced EV charging infrastructure was becoming ever-more pressing. Cities and municipalities are nevertheless responding, for example through ultralow emissions or clean air zones in the likes of London, Birmingham, Bath, Bristol, Oxford and Portsmouth, with more likely to make the switch.

The Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) also has set out an

JANUARY 2022 LIGHTING JOURNAL 27

Lighting and sustainability: the ILP’s Light, Seen

ambition to have zero emissions on Britain’s roads by 2050, while the sale of new petrol or diesel cars will be banned by 2030, he explained [1].

The DVLA in 2020 estimated there were 2.1 million vehicles registered for first time in UK, of which 179,000 were ultra-low emissions’ vehicles (ULEVs), such as plug-in hybrids and EVs, with numbers rising all the time [2].

From 2016, where there were around 6,000 EV charging devices around the country, we’re now up to more than 25,000 devices, according to the website and app Zap Map, which shows availability of chargers in your local area, Alan highlighted [3]. ‘We actually have taken big steps to get those EV chargers out there for people to be able to charge their vehicles. That’s great. But we still have a big mountain to climb if we’re going to reach OLEV’s ambition,’ he added.

Which brings us to feeder pillars, of course already a very familiar part of the UK’s street lighting ‘furniture’, as well as often for providing power for in-ground units, such as those used by events and market traders.

SAFELY SUPPLYING POWER

However, Alan emphasised how feeder pillars can also easily be adapted for the purposes of supplying power for EV charging.

He cited recent examples of EV feeder pillar projects Charles Endirect had been involved with, including at The Exchange in Aylesbury, at Manchester Airport and at various locations with Bristol City Council.

‘I think it is really to get the message across to your customers, who have got ambitions to have EV chargers in their town or city centres, that they need to be aware that there are different vehicles, and they have different types of connectors, and that is something they need to think about when they are installing their EV chargers,’ he said.

Alan ran through the different types of plugs, sockets and connectors that are available, as well as the different loads and charging speeds that can be achieved. ‘Regardless of whether it is a slow charge, fast, rapid or ultra-rapid, the feeder pillar is going to have a role to play in safely supplying that electrical power to that EV charger itself,’ he emphasised.

Dimensions, components, schematics, and wiring diagrams were also discussed, as was the need for different types of protective devices to comply with the BS 7671 IET Wiring Regulations (18th edition) Requirements for electrical installation[4].

‘EV chargers aren’t restricted just to something running off a feeder pillar; of course, we can consider using street lighting columns as a means of electrical power source for the EV charger, so it is column-mounted,’ Alan highlighted.

‘But you still have that situation that you need an RCD (residual current device) to protect that EV charger, to protect the user who is going to be charging their electric vehicle. And with some of the smaller EV chargers, there may not be sufficient space in the EV charger itself to be able to fit that little RCD.

‘Our bread and butter is making isolators that are suitable to sit inside your streetlighting column and that can include an RCD that can then feed that column-mounted charger. So you have that capability; if you want to use something like that, you don’t always have to use a large feeder pillar. This is another alternative,’ Alan added in conclusion.

[1] ‘Driving the Future Today: A strategy for ultra-low emission vehicles in the UK’, Office for Low Emissions Vehicles, September 2013, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/ uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/239317/ultra-low-emission-vehicle-strategy.pdf [2] Vehicle Licensing Statistics 2020, DVLA, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/ government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/985555/vehicle-licensing-statistics-2020.pdf [3] ‘The UK has over 25,000 EV charging devices: Where are they?’, Zap Map, https://www.zap-map.com/uk-over-25000-ev-charging-devices/ [4] BS 7671 IET Wiring Regulations (18th edition) Requirements for electrical installation, https://electrical.theiet.org/ bs-7671/

FIND OUT MORE

The full Charles Endirect Light Seen presentation, along with all previous presentations, is available to be viewed at https://theilp.org.uk/project/ light-seen/