Food distributor Fruit 4 London has announced that it will trial the use of Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology to power electric vehicles within its current fleet.
The trial, which is part of the broader V2G demonstrator project led by Cisco, E-Flex, will explore the commercial opportunity this technology presents through more efficient use of electricity and the ability for electric vehicles to release energy back into the grid when they are not in use.
With the majority of Fruit 4 London’s orders delivered on a Monday and other weekday mornings, its electric vehicles can spend over half the week out of use. The company therefore hopes to see significant commercial gains from charging and releasing electricity in accordance with demand.
Gabor Doroghazi, the company’s Co-Founder and CEO, said, ‘We’ve always wanted to have complete control over our carbon emissions and it’s equally important to the majority of our customers that we are 100% green.’
E-Flex intends to install bidirectional chargers at Fruit 4 London. Along with charge scheduling and fleet monitoring dashboards, which will allow the company to manage their electricity consumption when the electric vehicles are not in use, electricity can be bought and taken from the grid at off-peak times when it is less expensive.
Maria Hernandez head of Innovation Cisco UK & Ireland said, ‘V2G technology has the potential to transform the way urban logistics is powered and is a win-win for fleets and distributors. In addition to helping make the air in UK cities cleaner, E-Flex aims to demonstrate the commercial viability of V2G infrastructure, helping companies maximise the value of their fleets in and out of action.’
