VIGIL wins EVIEs 2020 Innovation in V2G Award

Grid Edge and a consortium of partners have been awarded the ultimate accolade for the VIGIL (Vehicle-to-Grid Intelligent Control) project in this year’s Electric Vehicle Innovation & Excellence Awards at the EV World Congress.

VIGIL is the UK’s first end-to-end, fully integrated Vehicle-to-Grid system and was named “Innovation in V2G” award winner.

The UK-funded VIGIL project was backed by Innovate UK, OLEV – the Office for Low Emission Vehicles – and the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). We worked with Aston University, ByteSnap and Nortech Management to develop an off-vehicle system for electric vehicles (EVs) to return energy to the power grid when parked and plugged in for charging.

The EVIEs is a leading award that champions innovation and excellence in the emerging EV sector, and ViGiL was recognised for its contribution towards building a better, smarter and cleaner future.

Judges feedback

Grid Edge Chief Product Officer, Dr Jim Scott said that the EVIE judges were acknowledging not just Grid Edge’s expertise with the award win, but also the significant, pioneering step towards the transition to low-carbon transportation that the ViGiL V2G smart energy system heralds.

Dr Jim Scott said “To win this award, in amongst some impressive competition, is testament to the ambition and teamwork across the VIGIL project.

“For Grid Edge, V2G is one of the many flexible assets that can be found in the modern built environment. The VIGIL project allowed us to demonstrate that with the right smart controls, more electrical loads can be integrated without compromising the user experience. It’s the interoperability of the flexible assets that will let us build a low carbon and reliable grid, and we’re very excited to be leading the way in developing these solutions.”

ByteSnap Director, Dunstan Power, said “We’re thrilled to have won an EVIE! Our collaboration with Nortech, Grid Edge and Aston University produced the UK’s first end-to-end V2G system, something we are very proud of”

“ByteSnap will continue to innovate in the EV space so we hope to be back at the Electric Vehicle Innovation and Excellence Awards soon!”

Grid Edge’s EV charging heritage goes back to 2014, when we installed the UK’s first V2G charging point at Aston University.