Join the Knaresborough Community Energy Sharing trial. When there’s excess solar energy from the Gracious Street Methodist Church solar panels, we’ll notify you to charge at the Chapel Street car park, and reward you for doing it
No obligation — charge when it suits you
Earn up to £1.50 per hour of charging
Earn £10 for signing up and your first charge
Help keep energy local and green
The Knaresborough Community Energy Sharing trial rewards you for charging your EV at the Chapel Street public charge points during periods of excess local solar generation from the solar panels on the Gracious Street Methodist Church.
While the charge point price stays at 40p/kWh, you earn a reward equivalent to the difference — 22p for every kWh you charge during a solar window.
Every time you charge during a solar window, you help:
Absorb excess local solar energy that would otherwise be exported to the grid
Align EV charging demand with renewable generation patterns
Reduce network stress during high solar export periods
Support local community benefits and energy resilience in Knaresborough
This trial is open to EV drivers who can charge at the Chapel Street public car park in Knaresborough.
Check the boxes below to confirm eligibility:
You own or regularly drive an electric vehicle (EV)
Your EV is compatible with the ev.energy platform (check compatibility below)
You can access the Chapel Street car park, Knaresborough
You are willing to receive day-ahead notifications about solar charging windows
You are happy to download and use the ev.energy app
Not sure if your vehicle is compatible? Visit the ev.energy supported vehicles page or contact us.
Follow these easy steps to start earning:
We forecast a day in advance when the Gracious Street Methodist Church solar array is producing more energy than the local network can absorb.
ev.energy sends you a day-ahead notification via the app, specifying the solar charging window, for example, “1 pm to 4 pm is the best time to charge today.”
Head to the Chapel Street car park and plug in during the notified window. Pay for your charging as normal — at the charging costs to Connected Kerb.
ev.energy records your charging session — start/end times, energy consumed (kWh) — through the integration with your connected vehicle.
Your charging is matched against the solar generation window. All energy charged during the event window qualifies for the 22p/kWh reward.
At the end of each month, your total rewards are calculated and paid out. You’ll also receive a monthly summary showing your participation and earnings.
The trial encourages EV drivers to charge at the Chapel Street public car park during periods of excess solar generation from the Gracious Street Methodist Church solar array. By aligning EV charging demand with local renewable supply, the trial demonstrates the value of community energy sharing and helps avoid costly infrastructure upgrades.
The trial is run by the Condor consortium, which includes ev.energy, SMPnet, Electric Places, and Knaresborough Community Energy Ltd (KCEL). ev.energy provides the app and tracking platform; SMPnet provides solar generation forecasting; KCEL and the wider community provide local engagement and support.
The innovation team identifies day-ahead when there is excess solar on the local network. Participating EV drivers receive a notification specifying the solar charging window. Drivers charge their vehicles at the Chapel Street charge points during that window, paying the standard rate. ev.energy tracks the session via the connected vehicle. At month end, drivers receive a reward for the energy they charged during notified windows.
Under current regulations, enabling a true community tariff at the point of charging would require the same licensed supplier to serve both the Gracious Street Methodist Church solar array and the public chargers. As this is not currently the case, rewards are delivered outside the billing system, as a trial mechanism. The trial will help evidence the regulatory changes needed to enable a fully integrated community tariff in future.
The public charge points are located at the Chapel Street car park, Knaresborough. The car park has 10 public charge points operated by Connected Kerb.
Your EV needs to be compatible with the ev.energy platform so that charging sessions can be tracked. Please check the ev.energy supported vehicles page or contact us if you’re unsure whether your vehicle is compatible.
You will have to pay any charging costs as normal to Connected Kerb, which operates the charge points in the Chapel Street car park. The price at the outset of the trial project was £0.43 per kilowatt-hour. ev.energy only monitors the energy use at the vehicle and does not have any relationship with Connected Kerb.
No. Participation is entirely optional. You will receive a notification when there is a solar window, but you are under no obligation to charge. You only earn rewards when you do charge during a notified window.
You can charge at the Chapel Street charge points at any time. However, rewards are only earned for charging sessions that occur during notified solar windows.
Yes. This trial is separate to Connected Kerb and the North Yorkshire Council who operate the Chapel Street car park. You still need to pay the parking fee at Chapel Street car park Monday–Sunday between 8am and 6pm (1 hour: 80p; 2 hours: £1.30; 4 hours: £2.10).
You earn 22p for every kWh you charge during a notified solar window. This is the difference between the standard charge point price (43p/kWh) and the estimated community energy sharing tariff (21p/kWh). Your total monthly reward depends on the number of solar events, how often you participate, and the energy you consume during those sessions.
ev.energy records all charging sessions at the Chapel Street location. For each session, the system records the start/end times, energy consumed (kWh), and whether the session overlapped with a notified solar window. At month end, all qualifying energy (kWh) is totalled and multiplied by 22p/kWh to calculate your reward.
Reward delivery method and timing are subject to confirmation by the Condor consortium. Options under consideration include direct bank transfer, vouchers redeemable at local businesses, and credits within the ev.energy app. You will be notified of the chosen method before the trial begins.
No, there is no sign-up reward. The main focus of this trial is usage-based rewards rather than upfront sign-up payments, to ensure participants engage meaningfully with the programme.
ev.energy does not store your EV username and password. Once you enter your credentials, they are exchanged with your vehicle manufacturer for a secure token. This token is stored securely and encrypted in ev.energy’s cloud platform, hosted by Amazon Web Services.
By connecting your vehicle to ev.energy, you consent to ev.energy collecting: vehicle make, model, trim and year; VIN; battery size; battery state of charge; plug-in and unplug times; start and stop times of charging sessions; kWh consumed; and vehicle charging location.
Charging data is combined with aggregated data from all programme participants and stored on ev.energy’s secure servers, hosted by Amazon Web Services.
You can withdraw from the trial at any time. Once you disconnect your EV from ev.energy, no further charging data will be collected. Any data from previous sessions will be anonymised and combined with aggregate programme data.
Join over 300,000 drivers with ev.energy and start earning rewards.
