Islington Council partners with Honda and Moixa for vehicle-to-grid electric car charging

Islington Council has partnered with Honda and electric car charging firm Moixa to introduce a new vehicle-to-grid charging scheme in London.

Five bi-directional vehicle-to-grid (V2G) chargers are being installed outside Islington Town Hall. They’re built by Honda and engineered by EVTECH, while running Moixa’s GridShare software.

The technology will be used to charge up the council’s electric vehicles when the power on the local network is at its cheapest and cleanest. It can also discharge power from the car batteries when it is at its most expensive.

If a car is hooked up to each one of the five chargers, there’s enough power available to cover the town hall’s entire base load requirement of power.

The move aligns with Islington Council’s plans to electrify its entire fleet, cutting 1,400 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions from the local air each year. Its fleet of 500 vehicles produced 2,726 tonnes of carbon dioxide during 2018 and 2019.

Chris Wright, Moixa’s chief technology officer, said: “The EV revolution will put millions of ‘batteries on wheels’ on our roads in the next decade. By using AI-driven charging technology, we can intelligently manage these fleets of batteries, securing lowest-cost charging and highest-impact carbon savings. Our project with Honda and Islington shows what is possible and provides a blueprint for all large organisations to follow.”

The borough is aiming to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2030, and aims to reduce emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2020 compared with 2005 levels.