Liberty Global to Trial Turning Broadband Infrastructure into EV Charging Stations

Liberty hopes to have up to six trial charging points set up by mid-April.

UK-based Liberty Global, the parent firm of Virgin Media is testing a secondary use for its broadband infrastructure using street-side boxes that link internet connections from exchanges to homes and businesses to build electric vehicle charging stations in the U.K.

The telecommunications company is testing the concept using Virgin Media’s cabinets and cable ducts. The existing infrastructure means that, if the trial run goes well, Liberty could set up charging stations at thousands of its cabinets.

In the trial phase, the company will build the charging points next to cabinets rather than converting them. And has partnered with startup Connected Kerb to build the first test station, which will open in Southwark, London.

Liberty hopes to have up to six trial charging points set up by mid-April. It’s also planning tests in Belgium through its Telenet network, while the stations could download data from cars since they’ll be connected to Virgin’s broadband network.

Jason Simpson, head of Liberty Global’s global energy and utility business, said, that the residential infrastructure owned by telecoms companies could help to solve an issue for the electric vehicle market, which is how people can charge cars if they don’t have a dedicated driveway.

Using a street cabinet to link to charging units, connected via underground ducts that run up and down the street, could provide an option. “It’s like an iceberg. Most of it has to go underground,” he added.

The charging hubs could also be used to download information using Virgin’s fibre. Over time, the data generated by autonomous vehicles is expected to dwarf that of the consumer smartphone market.

Source: FT