EA Technology Electric Nation Project Wins Northern Automotive Alliance Marketing Award 2016

Electric Nation, the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) trial of its kind, is testing a smart charging system in order to avoid excessive strain on local electricity networks when clusters of EVs charge at peak times. A strategic marketing campaign has resulted in a high level of interest from EV owners to take part in the project.

The NAA Awards took place in Manchester on 10th November 2016, with an audience of over 270 members of the Northern and national automotive communities, and featuring keynote speaker Lawrence Davies MBE, CEO, Automotive Investment Organisation (AIO), Department for International Trade.

The NAA Awards event showcased the successes of vehicle manufacturers, supply chain companies and service providers in the region.

EA Technology is delivering the Electric Nation project, hosted by Western Power Distribution (WPD), in collaboration with partners including DriveElectric, Lucy Electric GridKey and TRL. EA Technology is responsible for managing all aspects of customer research, PR, marketing and dissemination of learning for the project.

The Electric Nation project aims to build an understanding of the potential impact that the increasing uptake of EVs will have on local electricity networks. The ultimate objective is to recruit 500-700 people buying or leasing an electric vehicle to take part in the project.

Fellow NAA member Automotive Comms won the tender to direct and deliver the marketing and communications for the project. Due to a strategic and multi-faceted marketing approach, the project was launched successfully at LCV2016, it has achieved high levels of awareness in the industry, and has already received a large number of enquiries to date.

The judges were impressed with the scale, scope and clarity of the marketing campaign for Electric Nation. They said that there was clear evidence of the impact already achieved.

Nick Storer, Project Director of Electric Nation, says: “EA Technology is delighted to win the Northern Automotive Alliance Marketing Award 2016. This recognises the strategic approach we have adopted with our marketing for Electric Nation, along with the positive response that we have enjoyed to date. Thanks to professional, clear and creative communication, this is a project that buyers of EVs want to be part of – and in the process they are helping to future-proof our local electricity networks for the next generation of electric vehicles.”

Find out more about Electric Nation at http://www.electricnation.org.uk