RAC aims to ease EV ‘range anxiety’ with mobile charger

Range anxiety is a common worry for owners of electric vehicles (EVs), so RAC has developed a first-of-its-kind mobile electric vehicle (EV) charger that can give out-of-charge EVs a boost from their rescue vans.

The breakdown firm developed the kit with automotive engineering company Original Ltd, and they say it’s capable of delivering a ‘top-up’ roadside charge that will safely get a stranded EV to a nearby charge point.

They developed the charger because currently, most EVs can’t be towed to a charger as they require all wheels to be lifted.

The new EV Boost system uses a generator permanently fitted to the vans Euro 6 diesel engine and the power produced is passed through an invertor to give the out-of-charge EV a boost.

Their first six vans equipped with the new EV generators will take to the roads in June in London, Birmingham and Manchester and will be rolled out to areas with high call-outs.

The charger works with all Type 1 and Type 2 connections ensuring it will charge 99% of electric vehicles on UK roads.

RAC head of roadside rescue innovation Chris Millward said: ‘Our solution enables our patrols to help stranded EV drivers at the roadside with a power boost, equivalent to a top-up from a fuel can for a petrol or diesel car, to get them on their way again.

‘With nothing like it on the market the real challenge was to develop a mobile EV-charger system which is compact and light enough to fit into our normal patrol vehicles without compromising on space so we can still carry all the normal parts and tools to help our patrols continue to fix four out of five vehicles at the roadside.’

Melanie Shufflebotham, co-founder of Zap-Map, the EV charging map, added: ‘It’s great to see the RAC leading the way and introducing this new mobile EV charging system to its fleet of vans. Whilst the UK public charging network already has over 14,000 public charge points and is growing at a rapid rate, this service will give electric car drivers additional confidence as they plan longer electric journeys.’

Photo credit – RAC