Sheffield start-up awarded EV funding

  • 2020-11-02
A start-up firm in Sheffield has received funds to help residents charge electric vehicles (EVs).

Based on Sheffield’s Charles Street, Mina is a firm developing new technology to make it simpler to charge EVs and to encourage the use of battery-powered cars. Its latest project is to construct a system capable of making it vastly easier to charge EVs for residents of apartment blocks.

For its new concept, Mina has been awarded a total of £77,834 worth of funding from the Catalysing Green Innovation programme, launched by the UK Government in order to roll out a study to define the feasibility of the new initiative. Companies applying for grants can sometimes rely on professional printing services to create literature outlining their intentions.

The funds awarded will be used to build a prototype that can enable residents to rent a dedicated charge point on demand for their designated parking space.

At present, around nine million of the UK’s population live in flats, but issues prevent residents from accessing charge stations – the largest problem being that tenants do not own their parking spot, which means landlords are often paying for electricity use.

The solution from Mina would mean residents could pay a fee each month for a charging point, encompassing all energy required. The energy would also be less expensive than that provided by public charging stations.