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The Road to Electrification: Smart Parking can help make it happen
On March 16th, Cleverciti, Element Energy, Trojan Energy & British Parking Association co-hosted the webinar: “The road to electrification: how parking data can assist Local Authorities with electric transition and beyond.”
Speaker Panel
- Chris Heddle, Country Manager UK & Ireland at Cleverciti
- David Parker, COO at Cleverciti
- Sarah Clements, Senior Consultant at Element Energy
- Hugh Mackenzie, COO at Trojan Energy
- Julian O'Kelly, PhD, Head of Technology, Innovation and Research at the British Parking Association
During the webinar, which was attended by 52 representatives of local authorities from the UK, Chris Heddle from Cleverciti took on the role of moderator and lead the conversation around the switch to electric vehicles in cities and how smart parking can help local authorities during the transition.
After introducing all members of the speaker panel, Mr. O’Kelly addressed the topic at hand: the fact that the transport & mobility sector is not advanced enough in terms of reducing carbon emissions. Electric Vehicles (EV) are, in the eyes of the BPA, a large part of the solution. The BPA is working with the government to support a National Parking Platform for Parking Operators to communicate digitally with service providers concerning data like occupancy or payments & reservation information.
Ms. Clements from Element Energy shared an example of a project they did for Birmingham city council, assessing taxi demand to determine where charging points should be located. This is only one means of support that LAs can receive on their journey to electrification.
Mr. MacKenzie from Trojan Energy shared insights on their EV charging solution, which utilizes a connector located near the curb, hidden in the pavement. Additionally, Trojan recently teamed up with Cleverciti to tackle challenges concerning on-street charging without EV-only bays by installing Cleverciti Sensors that monitor parking space availability.
Mr. Heddle, on behalf of Cleverciti, emphasized how parking data assists LAs. Currently, 95% of the time cars are parked, resulting in wasted time searching for parking spaces, which leads to emissions and financial losses. Smart parking helps overcome these challenges through sensor technology and integration with the Cleverciti App.
Combining EV infrastructure with smart parking data encourages better space use and supports drivers in finding available charging bays.
To learn more, view the full recording of the event below: