Pilot plan
Charge. Check. Ready. - UK ultra-rapid readiness pilot
Prove, on an ultra-rapid charging estate and inside existing charge dwell, that an automated four-channel tyre check converts at commercial rates, finds a material safety and efficiency problem, corrects it without extending the stop, and becomes habitual for repeat chargers.
The single decision at the end
At week twelve the operator holds a single decision: extend to a paid estate rollout on agreed terms, extend the pilot to a second cohort, or stop with no cost incurred.
Who pays for what
AiR funds, installs, insures and maintains the pilot hardware. The host provides bay footprint, a 230 V supply, permission to operate and site induction. No capital outlay and no service commitment from the operator.
Hypotheses
Five claims that can fail
Each one has a numeric threshold agreed before the first install and a stated failure condition. A pilot that cannot fail proves nothing.
Charging dwell converts to tyre checks at a commercially useful rate.
Pass: At least 12 percent of charge sessions start an AiR session by week eight, on at least three of the pilot sites.
Fail: Below 8 percent with correct signage and app prompting, the dwell conversion thesis is wrong and the channel is deprioritised.
A material share of charging customers are running outside the placard pressure window.
Pass: At least 45 percent of checked vehicles are more than 3 PSI from placard on at least one corner.
Fail: Below 30 percent, the safety and efficiency argument weakens and the proposition becomes convenience-led, not outcome-led.
The check fits inside the charge and never extends the stop.
Pass: 95th percentile AiR session duration under 4 minutes, and median charge-session duration unchanged versus the matched control period.
Fail: Any measurable extension of charge dwell fails the pilot outright, regardless of other results.
The check becomes habitual for regular chargers.
Pass: At least 30 percent of AiR sessions in weeks nine to twelve come from a vehicle seen earlier in the pilot.
Fail: Below 15 percent it is a novelty, not a retention feature, and the commercial model must be re-based on one-off value.
Correction produces a defensible efficiency gain.
Pass: Modelled energy benefit reported as a range, with the lower bound above 0.8 percent for corrected vehicles.
Fail: If corrections are small and rare, the range benefit is not material and the story reverts to safety alone.
Scorecard
Seven metrics, defined and instrumented
Definition, instrument and target for every metric, so the result cannot be re-argued after the fact.
Tyre-check utilisation
Completed AiR sessions divided by charge sessions at the same site over the same period, reported per site and per hour of day.
Instrument
On-unit session counter, reconciled weekly against the operator's own charge-session count for the site.
Target
12 percent by week eight, 18 percent stretch
Whether dwell converts at a rate that supports a national rollout.
Vehicles found under or over pressure
Share of checked vehicles more than 3 PSI from the placard value on at least one corner at entry, split under versus over.
Instrument
Entry pressure on all four channels against the resolved OEM placard value for the vehicle and load condition.
Target
Measure, no target - this is the problem statement
The scale of the safety and efficiency problem inside the operator's own customer base.
Average correction required
Mean absolute PSI delta between entry and exit pressure per corrected corner, and mean corners corrected per vehicle.
Instrument
Per-channel entry and exit readings from the calibrated sensor set, logged per session.
Target
Measure, no target
How far from correct the charging estate actually runs.
Repeat usage
Share of sessions in weeks nine to twelve from a salted registration hash already seen during the pilot.
Instrument
One-way salted hash created on-unit; the plate is never stored and the salt is destroyed at pilot close.
Target
30 percent of late-pilot sessions
Whether the check becomes habitual, which is what makes it a retention feature.
Driver dwell time
AiR session duration, and charge-session duration on the same visit versus the matched control period.
Instrument
Unit session clock, plus operator charge-session duration supplied in aggregate only.
Target
95th percentile under 4 minutes, zero measurable charge extension
That the check sits inside the charge rather than lengthening the stop.
Estimated efficiency improvement
Modelled energy and range benefit from the correction applied, reported as a low-to-high range, never a single point value.
Instrument
Correction magnitude applied to published rolling-resistance sensitivity, with assumptions printed alongside every figure.
Target
Lower bound above 0.8 percent on corrected vehicles
The operator's headline customer-value number.
Customer satisfaction
Two-question on-unit prompt at end of session, scored 1 to 5, plus operator app rating where the operator chooses to share it.
Instrument
On-screen prompt, anonymous, skippable; response rate reported alongside score so a high score on low volume is visible.
Target
4.3 of 5 with a response rate above 25 percent
Whether the service raises perceived value of the hub itself.
Schedule, agreement to decision
Agreement and site selection
Weeks 1-2Two-page pilot agreement, mutual NDA, site shortlist against the published criteria, landlord consents started.
Site survey and design
Weeks 3-4Footprint, hose reach, pedestrian routing, power route and mounting confirmed per site. Method statement and risk assessment issued.
Manufacture and configure
Weeks 5-8Units built and calibrated, host branding applied, offline behaviour and telemetry configured, factory acceptance test witnessed.
Install and commission
Week 9One site per day. Electrical sign-off, calibration verification, eleven-point acceptance script signed per unit.
Soft launch
Week 10Staff walkthrough, signage live, no promotion. Baseline capture and instrumentation reconciliation against operator session counts.
Live pilot, phase one
Weeks 11-16Full operation with signage and in-app prompting. Weekly one-page report every Monday, faults inside 24 hours.
Mid-pilot gate
Week 17Formal review against H1 to H5. Continue, adjust prompting and signage, or stop. Any change is documented and dated.
Live pilot, phase two
Weeks 18-22Repeat-usage window measured, satisfaction sampling completed, efficiency model reconciled against actual corrections.
Results and decision
Week 23Full results pack, assumptions register, control comparison and a rollout proposal with commercial terms. One decision requested.
Site selection criteria
Responsibilities
Governance
Cost, data, safety and the stop condition
All costs are modelled estimates for discussion, not quoted prices.
Ready to send
The IONITY and Fastned versions
Same plan, same scorecard, different cohort logic and different hook. Copy either message and send it through the published corporate route.
IONITY UK
19 August 2026: First Greenwich Shopping Park hub opens, described as the first of a London pipeline. Twelve bays at up to 400 kW at a high-footfall retail destination, a deliberate step beyond a motorway-oriented network.
Proposed cohort
Greenwich plus two London pipeline sites and one strategic-route hub, with a fourth London site held as the matched control.
Retail-destination dwell is longer and more relaxed than motorway dwell, so Greenwich is the strongest conversion test. Pairing it with one strategic-route hub shows whether the result travels across formats before the pipeline format is frozen.
Why them
- - The London pipeline format specification is still open, and being written into the hub design now is far cheaper than retrofitting a built estate later.
- - IONITY sells premium reliability rather than lowest price, and a verified readiness record is a premium-experience asset no competing network holds.
- - Retail landlords value dwell-time services; a tyre-readiness station strengthens IONITY's case with the host as well as with the driver.
- - 400 kW charging concentrates high-value drivers with range anxiety, which is precisely the audience for whom a pressure correction is a felt benefit.
The ask: A 45-minute scoping call with hub format and UK network development, then three to five pipeline sites for the twelve-week pilot.
Dear IONITY UK team, The Greenwich Shopping Park hub, opened on 19 August and described as the first of a London pipeline, is the reason I am writing now rather than later. Hub format is easiest to influence before it is built. AiR is an intelligent tyre-readiness platform. A four-channel station identifies the vehicle, retrieves the approved pressure profile, checks and corrects all four tyres inside ninety seconds and issues a timestamped readiness record. On an EV that is not a forecourt convenience: rolling resistance is a larger share of energy demand, so a correction is added usable range on the leg the driver has just paid to charge for. The proposition is one line. Charge. Check. Ready. The battery charges while all four tyres are checked and corrected, inside the existing stop, with no extension to dwell. I am proposing a twelve-week pilot across three to five sites, with Greenwich as the lead site and one strategic-route hub for comparison. AiR funds, installs, insures and maintains the hardware. IONITY provides footprint, a 230 V supply and permission. There is no capital outlay and no service obligation. We would measure seven things and publish all of them, including the ones that do not flatter us: check utilisation against charge sessions, share of vehicles outside the placard window, average correction, repeat usage, dwell impact, modelled efficiency benefit and customer satisfaction. Three of the five hypotheses can fail the pilot outright, and the stop condition is written into the plan. The full pilot plan, scorecard definitions, data-protection controls and safety gates are ready to share, alongside a private dashboard for your team. Could we find 45 minutes with the colleagues who own hub format specification and UK network development? Kind regards, Alexander Macdonald Founder, AiR - Amporah Ltd airintelligence.ioOpen the IONITY UK dashboard
Fastned UK
20 August 2026: First Liverpool hub opens at Brunswick Business Park, taking the UK estate to forty hubs. Eight 400 kW chargers close to Liverpool city centre and major commercial areas.
Proposed cohort
Brunswick Business Park plus two established hubs at contrasting throughput, and one matched control hub with no unit.
A forty-hub estate is large enough for statistically useful evidence and small enough that one decision moves a meaningful share of the network. Choosing one new hub and two mature hubs separates novelty effect from steady-state behaviour.
Why them
- - Forty hubs is the sweet spot: a three-site result generalises credibly across the estate rather than being dismissed as anecdote.
- - Fastned's canopy format and hospitality positioning already treat the hub as a destination, so a readiness service is a format extension, not a new idea.
- - Commercial and city-adjacent sites like Brunswick attract fleet and high-mileage drivers, where pressure drift is fastest and the benefit is largest.
- - Fastned publishes performance data openly, which fits a pilot designed to publish its failures alongside its successes.
The ask: A 45-minute scoping call with UK country and partnerships leadership, then two to three hubs on the seven-metric scorecard with an agreed route to estate-wide rollout on the evidence.
Dear Fastned UK team, Congratulations on the Brunswick Business Park opening on 20 August, and on reaching forty UK ultra-rapid hubs. That estate size is the reason I am approaching you now: it is big enough for a pilot result to mean something and small enough that one decision can move a large share of the network. AiR is an intelligent tyre-readiness platform. A four-channel station identifies the vehicle, retrieves the approved pressure profile, checks and corrects all four tyres inside ninety seconds and issues a timestamped readiness record. Under-inflation costs an EV more than an equivalent combustion car, because rolling resistance is a larger share of its energy demand. Correcting four tyres during a charge is added usable range on the leg the driver has just paid for. Charge. Check. Ready. The check happens inside the existing stop and must never extend it - that is written in as a pass or fail condition, not an aspiration. I am proposing a twelve-week pilot across three hubs: Brunswick as the new-site test, two mature hubs at contrasting throughput, and one matched control hub with no unit. AiR funds, installs, insures and maintains the hardware. Fastned provides footprint, a 230 V supply and permission. No capital outlay, no service obligation, and a stop condition that costs Fastned nothing. Seven measures, all published: check utilisation against charge sessions, share of vehicles outside the placard window, average correction in PSI, repeat usage, dwell impact against the control period, modelled efficiency benefit reported as a range, and customer satisfaction with its response rate shown alongside. The full pilot plan, definitions, data-protection controls and safety gates are ready, together with a private dashboard for your team. Could we find 45 minutes with UK country and partnerships leadership? Kind regards, Alexander Macdonald Founder, AiR - Amporah Ltd airintelligence.ioOpen the Fastned UK dashboard
Pilot results dashboard
Tyres checked, pressure corrected, efficiency saved, repeat usage
The live reporting surface for the twelve-week pilot: six hubs including one matched control, weekly and cumulative, with each hypothesis marked pass or fail against its pre-agreed threshold.
No pilot is live yet. Every figure below is produced by the AiR simulation model so the operator can see exactly what will be reported, in what shape, before committing a single site. Live sessions replace these values one site at a time as units are commissioned.
Tyres checked
0
5,588 sessions across 5 hubs
Corners corrected
0
26.4% of all tyres checked
Energy saved, modelled
0 kWh
116.8 kg CO2e avoided, at 0.207 kg per kWh
Repeat usage, weeks 9-12
0.0%
Salted plate hash, never a stored registration
Per-site scorecard, twelve weeks
Modelled| Hub | Tyres checked | Utilisation | Out of spec | Avg PSI added | Repeat | Modelled saving | CO2e avoided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenwich Shopping ParkIONITY - Retail destination | 6,468 | 13.1% | 51% | 5 | 34.8% | 158.4 kWh | 32.8 kg |
| Brunswick Business ParkFastned - Urban | 3,392 | 10.6% | 51.5% | 5.1 | 32.5% | 83.9 kWh | 17.4 kg |
| London pipeline hub BIONITY - Urban | 4,460 | 11.1% | 54.3% | 4.9 | 31.8% | 116.2 kWh | 24.1 kg |
| Strategic route hubIONITY - Strategic route | 4,936 | 9% | 53.4% | 5.1 | 31.6% | 126.5 kWh | 26.2 kg |
| Mature hub, mid throughputFastned - Urban | 3,096 | 10.4% | 53.1% | 5 | 31.8% | 78.9 kWh | 16.3 kg |
| Matched control hubFastned - Control | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
The control hub carries no unit. It exists so any change in charge-session duration or throughput can be read against a site the pilot never touched. Select any live hub to open its weekly detail.
Weekly detail
Greenwich Shopping Park
Median session
102s
Satisfaction
4.4 / 5
Efficiency band
1.1-2.1%
Energy saved
158.4 kWh
CO2e avoided
32.8 kg
Hypothesis verdicts
H1 Dwell converts to checks
10.8% of charge sessions
H2 Material share outside placard
52.7% of checked vehicles
H3 Check fits inside the charge
103s median session
H4 Check becomes habitual
32.5% repeat in weeks 9-12
H5 Defensible efficiency gain
1.1% to 2.1% modelled
A failed hypothesis is reported to the operator exactly as shown here. The stop condition is part of the agreement, and control-hub data is published alongside every claim.
Control hub: Matched control hub, 7,672 charge sessions observed, no AiR unit installed