This work has been facilitated and funded by the AI Accelerator programme based at the Bayes Centre. According to a 2022 Deloitte report, an estimated £18 billion in capital is required to support the rollout of EV charging infrastructure across the UK and to meet decarbonisation targets. It is essential to have a practical and well-researched model or tool that provides insight into the viability of capital-intensive infrastructure installation projects that will facilitate the wide adoption of EVs. The joint work will help to develop models to access project financing and cost estimations for different types and formats of public EV charging infrastructure.
The research and consultation with stakeholders in the EV ecosystem will further strengthen Vahanomy’s products to accelerate the rollout of the EV charging infrastructure. The partnership will develop models, using discounted cash flow methods to evaluate the financial performance of EV charging infrastructure projects. The models will not only provide cost estimations and predictions for different scenarios, such as greenfield and brownfield projects, but also have the capability of evaluating a variety of business arrangements, including public-private partnerships.
Several interviews with stakeholders are being carried out for data verification. In addition, the team will explore data sources for the proposed tool and identify potential business models and financing options required for a viable EV charging infrastructure project.
Theodor Cojoianu, Associate Professor in Sustainable Finance, said: 'The installation, maintenance or repair of charging stations for electric vehicles is a recognised green economic by many sustainable financial regulations and investors around the world. We are delighted to further our research into the economic and financial viability of different EV charging deployment models and help scale green technologies towards our net-zero to 2050 goals.'
Mengfei Jiang, Lecturer in Finance, said: 'The synergy between Vahanomy and the University of Edinburgh Business School is pivotal. As the push for decarbonisation intensifies globally, it's vital to have robust, data-driven insights guiding the EV charging infrastructure roll-out. By developing models that can evaluate the financial performance of EV charging infrastructure projects, we are providing potential investors with a clear road map.'
Arun Gopinath, CEO and Co-founder of Vahanomy, added: 'Our partnership with the Centre for Business, Climate Change and Sustainability will help our customers make better decisions to protect and grow their investments in EV charging infrastructure. The findings from this collaborative work will further strengthen the offering of our location data intelligence tool to have an improved understanding of the suitability, viability and risks of EV charging infrastructure projects.'
Vahanomy’s innovative AI data driven B2B products aim to decarbonise transport by accelerating electric vehicle charging infrastructure rollout globally. Their product set focuses on two major areas:
- AI-powered location data intelligence tool to analyse the suitability, viability, opportunity, and risk to the capital invested, revenue model, electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), and end-users of proposed EV charging locations based on over 110 market-researched parameters. These financing and cost estimation models enable further robustness to the business and revenue models for these capital-intensive green infrastructure projects.
- CHRGR.io - an innovative marketplace for the electric vehicle charging infrastructure ecosystem that allows site owners to list their properties and car parking spaces and get matched to charging point operators that enables speedy location identification or potential sites for EV charging infrastructure and price discovery.
Theodor Cojoianu is a Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Finance.
Mengfei Jiang is a Lecturer in Finance.