A new project exploring how electric vehicles could help disabled people stay connected during power outages is underway in the North East.

The Ofgem-funded innovation project will look at how electric vehicle batteries could provide temporary backup power to help keep essential medical equipment running during power cuts.

Delivered by Motability Operations in partnership with the Centre for Energy Equality, Northern Powergrid, Energy Systems Catapult and Energy Innovation Centre, Power Wheels will explore how EV batteries could help improve medical resilience during power outages.

The insights gained from the project will help inform how similar approaches could be developed safely and implemented across the UK.

Through the Motability Scheme, Motability Operations supports thousands of disabled people – including over 12,500 EV customers in the North East – many of whom rely on electricity for essential care, mobility and independence.

For these households, a power cut can be more than an inconvenience – it can disrupt vital equipment and pose serious risks to health and safety.

As part of the project’s first phase, Motability Operations and its partners worked with disabled customers on the Motability Scheme to explore the practical features that would make EV energy services safe and reliable in the home.

This included information-sharing about how the use of accessible two-way chargers return energy from EVs, and how they could better support disabled individuals – such as being able to charge medical equipment and mobility aids directly from an EV. The research then focussed on what would be needed to make this process as easy as possible for disabled individuals.

Outcomes from the research included giving customers simple, accessible controls to safeguard battery charge, alongside clear information that would guide disabled drivers in understanding when their vehicle needs to be charged.

In the next phase of the project, Motability Operations will work directly with 30 customers to further explore how the technology would work for people with varying disabilities and requirements. Considerations from these workshops will then be used to co-create solutions for future testing.

Andrew Miller, chief executive of Motability Operations, said: “As the UK moves to electric vehicles, it’s vital that this transition supports disabled people’s freedom and independence, and that new technologies are designed around real lives and needs.

“Power Wheels gives us the opportunity to work closely with customers and partners to explore how EVs could offer more than mobility – but support their medical resilience, helping people feel safer and more confident when disruption happens.”