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Denbighshire installs UK-first AC-based vehicle-to-grid charger in fleet depot

Council becomes one of the first to use AC bi-directional V2G chargers in operational fleet, aiming to cut costs and ease grid demand.

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V2VNY Denbighshire 03 Martin Griffiths

Denbighshire County Council has become one of the first organisations in the UK to install an alternating current (AC) vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charger at its fleet depot, marking a key milestone in efforts to cut carbon, reduce costs and support energy resilience.

The installation is part of the V2VNY (Vehicle 2 Volume eNergy Yield) project, led by Hangar19 in partnership with CrowdCharge, DriveElectric, and a consortium including Electric Corby, Oxfordshire County Council, Grid Beyond and JLR. The project trial is testing the viability of AC-based V2G solutions, which are more affordable and practical for workplace and home use than traditional direct current (DC) systems.

Martin Griffiths, fleet mobility lead officer at Denbighshire County Council, said: “Vehicle to grid charging, combined with a fleet of EVs, solar generation and battery storage, offers us the potential to reduce reliance on the grid even further, providing greater resilience if there was a problem with the UK’s electricity network. V2G is also expected to deliver savings on energy costs, as well as reducing carbon emissions.”

The depot, which already produces solar energy stored in an on-site battery, runs over 100 EVs including refuse trucks and minibuses. The trial uses a Kia EV6 to test V2G functions, including vehicle-to-load (V2L), which has even been used to recharge other EVs on site.

The AC V2G chargers developed by Hangar19 are the first multi-socket models of their kind and synchronise with the grid through AI-led optimisation from CrowdCharge. Richard LeCain, UKBIC’s chief technology officer, called the approach a “commercially viable way for fleet owners, businesses and EV drivers to save money and carbon.”

Cllr Barry Mellor, lead member for environment and transport at Denbighshire County Council, said: “As a council, we are working extremely hard to address the climate and nature emergency we declared in 2019. A vital part of this is reducing our own carbon footprint, with a big focus on the council fleet.”

The wider V2VNY trial, funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero under the £1bn Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, is also being run in other locations including East Lothian, Islington and Wiltshire.

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