It’s ridiculously hard to find EV chargers — hopefully this hackathon will fix it
A mapping hackathon brings industry together to improve EV charging access
An EV charging site planner app wins the hackathon
The winning idea was an EV charging site planner app created byArcadis, which identifies suitable locations for installingEV charging points.
The app assesses potential charging point sites, then refines and characterizes any search by pinpointing red, amber, and green dots on a map to show the best locations. It pulls in data from sources such as the OS Maps API and council land registry information.
From this, the app used proximity to existing charge point infrastructure, driving times, land ownership, and priority land without any charging points, and grid supply from substations to determine optimal locations.
The city of Leeds was tested during the hackathon, with the app revealing 144 of the best potential charge point sites found on city council land, and a further 650 possible locations.
Other finalists I like
Circuit Finderapp from the Department for Transport calculates how long a journey will take for EV owners with different needs. Users put in their start point and destination for journeys, and the app finds the best route for them according to preference like where they prefer to wait.
Plonkersdesigned byOfgemaims to help rural communitiestransition towards EV mobility.The prototype app focused on Thurso in Scotland and using OS Maps API and OS Places API to provide household addresses, and Open Street Map data for tourists, hotels, and caravan parks.
It investigated households that share the same charging points and distances from the nearest charger.(How can you not love the term Plonkers?!)
Rate My Chargerwas a concept creat ed by RAC Agilysis to promote the best chargers in the country. The app scored the quality of EV charging points based on a number of factors including:
It pulled in data from OS Open Map Local and added open data sources such as Toilet Map, CodePoint, and crime rate open data.
Why I like hackathons
Besides the problems I detailed earlier,hackathons have a long history of bringing people together to develop solutions to specific problems and challenges. From a tech perspective, it’s a great way to dig deep into a specific problem with folks in the same or adjacent industries. You gain exposure to a diverse pool of potential solutions and can get your ideas validated.
Further, employers arealwaysrecruiting at hackathons, so it’s a great chance to meet your future employers and colleagues.
Hackathons are for everyone
Even more critical,hackathonsare not just for developers. You need writers to translate tech concepts into plain English. Designers who can create charts and graphics, and amazing GIFs are vital.
Equally important are financial folks who can set a potential budget of costings. This is vital in case you win the funds to finance your idea.
Incidentially, one of my favorite hackathons was a policy hackathon at Latvia’s5G Techritoryconference. Yep, a policy hackathon. It focused on supporting 5G deployment in the Baltic Sea Region. Thus, an international conference was the perfect place to bring together folks from different industries and regions.
The winning team looked at cross-border travel of autonomous vehicles and gaps in European policy and legislation. They created an extensive list of things that policymakers need to solve before autonomous vehicles can cross borders. These included:
They also created a roadmap of how policymakers should enable the cross-border travel of autonomous vehicles. Very cool. I’d be curious to hear about your experiences with hackathons: maybe you won, found a new job, or formed a great partnership?
Story byCate Lawrence
Cate Lawrence is an Australian tech journo living in Berlin. She focuses on all things mobility: ebikes, autonomous vehicles, VTOL, smart ci(show all)Cate Lawrence is an Australian tech journo living in Berlin. She focuses on all things mobility: ebikes, autonomous vehicles, VTOL, smart cities, and the future of alternative energy sources like electric batteries, solar, and hydrogen.
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