How about using your electric car to help power your Milton Keynes house?

A top councillor in Milton Keynes Council on Tuesday (Oct 15) approved a £700,000 contract for “the development and delivery of electric vehicle charging technology” which includes domestic energy management.

This could mean that electric cars, with spare charge in their batteries, could be used the other way around, to put energy back into houses at peak times. Then, overnight, power could be set to flow the other way, to make sure the cars had enough energy to travel again in the morning.

Tuesday’s decision to award a contract was taken by Cllr Martin Gowans (Lab, Bletchley East) the council’s cabinet member for transport and planning. It relates to the council receiving a cool £9million from the Government in 2016 to increase the use of ultra-low emission vehicles. Milton Keynes Council has a five year programme, called Go Ultra Low.

Even though Cllr Gowans decided to make the decision in public, against his officers’ recommendation, the names of the contract-winners is considered to be restricted information, and was therefore kept behind closed doors.

As well as the development of innovation in the technology, residents are due to see other changes over the next two years, which includes one year of trials. If it is successful, the private sector would then be able to pick it up.

The contract, which runs out on November 30, 2021, also includes wireless charging at hubs – where a electric cars won’t need to be plugged in – in Central Milton Keynes, and across the wider community.