Siemens scores smart metering deals in the UK
Siemens will deliver metering services to three partners in the UK, namely Blink Charging, Be.EV and Evyve. These partnerships are set to fast-track the installation of more than 10,000 new EV charging points across the UK over the next four years and help bridge a gap in the market.
The charge point operators say the deal with Simens will help them install charging infrastructure much quicker since they are currently faced with delays resulting from capacity constraints of energy firms, often the principal suppliers of metering technology.
Siemens, on the other hand, promises to supply metering and commissioning services for every new charging point at the operators’ sites. This includes data services, electricity meter financing, installation, maintenance and fault resolution, and support by a field team covering installations from Perthshire in Scotland to Cornwall.
Mark Amor, Commercial Director UK&I at Blink Charging, said they had received “excellent support” from Siemens, enabling the CPO to accelerate the commissioning process and deliver the service clients and drivers expect.
Asif Ghafoor, Be.EV CEO added that the work with Siemens is “a volume-based deal which will result in the first wave of 1,000 new chargers by 2024”.
The new agreements follow an initial metering deal Siemens signed with Osprey in January 2023.
The company adds meters represent a critical part of each charging point, delivering power to the units and recording electricity usage for accurate billing, reporting and recharging by the CPO. In German, this is governed by the German Weights and Measures Law (Eichrecht); Siemens partner Ubitricity, active in the UK, speaks of “legal-for-trade mobile metering” for its devices.
In the UK, this usually runs under “smart metering”, and the government this January reportedly freed £16 million in funding from the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP) for technologies “that harness the potential of smart charging,” including an intelligent street lamppost.
Be.EV and Evyve are both founding members of the industry group ChargeUK. At least 18 companies want to invest more than six billion pounds in developing and operating charging infrastructure in the UK by 2030.
US-based Blink Charging acquired the British EB Charging in April 2022 and rebranded the network. The rebrand gave Blink a visible footprint of more than 1,225 chargers in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
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