The winner of the 2022 AM Award for Best New Product or Service is Original ADS and RAC for their innovative electric vehicle rescue device.

As the mass adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) becomes a reality in the UK, the risk of motorists becoming stranded due to an empty battery becomes ever more present.

The RAC and Original ADS have developed a solution for getting discharged EVs back on the road, with minimal disruption, called Charge Pod.

The lightweight device is installed in RAC patrol vehicles and enables a stranded EV  to be charged at the roadside. It’s powered by the vehicle’s engine and, with an output of 7.5kW, it provides enough power in a short space of time for the vehicle to be driven to the nearest chargepoint or the driver’s home.

Around 827,000 motorists require assistance from breakdown services each year due them to running out of petrol or diesel. An EV with an empty battery is more challenging as the vehicle must be towed to a chargepoint, often requiring a flat-bed vehicle.

Charge Pod enables the RAC to provide the same “out of fuel” service as it would to traditional internal combustion engine vehicles, getting discharged EVs back on the road more quickly and more efficiently than other solutions.

Since implementing the Charge Pod system on a trial basis in 2019, the RAC has won contracts with companies such as Renault UK and Motability Operations because of its ability to support stranded EV drivers.

The RAC signed an exclusivity deal with Original ADS, in May 2021, which will see more than 300 RAC patrol vehicles equipped with the Charge Pod system in the coming years.

Finalists:

• Automotive Compliance
• CitNOW
• eDynamix
• Journey Energy Solutions
• Loop
• Phyron
• Real World Analytics