Energy Institute Selects Neutron as Its EV Charging CPD Case Study

The Energy in Buildings & Industry (EiBI) magazine and the Energy Institute have published a Continuing Professional Development module on electric vehicle charging for depots and hubs — and they used Neutron Systems as the primary case study throughout.

Series 23, Module 09 of the CPD Fundamentals Programme appears in the April 2026 issue of EiBI. It is written by Mark Hobbins, Technical Project Manager at SNRG, and walks energy engineers through the full process of electrifying a bus depot: from scheduling analysis and power capacity calculations through to charging system configuration, communications protocols, and advanced load management. Every worked example, every diagram, every photograph is drawn from a real Neutron Systems deployment.

What the Energy Institute CPD Programme Is

The Energy Institute is the chartered professional body for the energy sector, with over 22,000 members across more than 100 countries. Its CPD Fundamentals Programme is a structured series of accredited training modules published in EiBI and used by energy managers, building services engineers, and facilities professionals across the UK to maintain their professional qualifications.

Completing enough modules across a series earns an Energy Institute CPD Certificate. This is not a trade publication roundup or a sponsored feature — it is a formal educational resource that an independent professional body endorses and certifies. When the Energy Institute selects a case study, it is making a considered editorial choice about what represents best practice in the industry.

What Was Featured

The module covers the electrification of a 40-bus London depot — a real, operating project. The configuration described uses Neutron's centralised power architecture: a bank of air-cooled 480 kW Master Units feeding twin-gun satellite charging pillars throughout the depot. The depot layout provides 60–80 kW of overnight charging per bay for the standard fleet, with a fast-charging area delivering up to 80 kW per bus for vehicles on daytime routes.

The article describes how the project arrived at a fast-charging bay design using three 480 kW Neutron Master Units feeding six twin-gun pillars — one per fast-charging bay. That gave a total of 1,440 kW across six bays, with the flexibility to redistribute power between bays as fleet scheduling changes. The modular approach delivered a net saving of approximately £2.5 million against what an equivalent all-in-one charging point layout would have required.

Alongside the technical calculations, the module uses photographs of the live Neutron installation — credited as "Photos Courtesy of Neutron Systems" — including the "Powering London's Future" bus depot site, which shows Neutron power units under the depot canopy alongside London Transport buses and in-ground gantry charging infrastructure.

The Technical Themes the Module Covers

Centralised vs all-in-one architecture. The module compares centralised power unit systems — where a single Master Unit distributes power to multiple gun chargers — against all-in-one units. The Neutron configuration demonstrates why centralised architecture typically reduces capital cost at scale, increases layout flexibility, and allows power capacity to be upgraded without replacing gun infrastructure.

Scheduling and charge window analysis. The article walks through the process of calculating charge windows based on fleet route scheduling — identifying how many buses return with less than 10% charge and what overnight and daytime charging rates are required to guarantee fleet readiness. This analysis is the starting point for any Neutron depot scoping project.

Gun installation formats. The module explains the three main physical formats for installing charging guns: overhead gantries, in-floor units, and pillars. All three are part of the Neutron product range, allowing a single depot to combine formats — pillar-mounted guns on perimeter bays where vehicles can be protected by existing barriers, and gantry-mounted guns in the inner area.

OCPP and system communications. The article highlights Open Charge Point Protocol as the pivotal communications standard for depot EV infrastructure, enabling the charging system to operate alongside third-party scheduling software and future-proof the depot against vendor lock-in. Neutron's Electron CMS and Neutron Grid EMS are both OCPP-compliant and support multi-vendor environments.

Advanced dynamic load management. Using the Neutron deployment as the example, the module explains how sophisticated energy distribution — peak shaving, demand response, and priority-based scheduling — allows a depot to operate within constrained grid import capacity without compromising fleet readiness.

Why This Matters for Fleet Operators

Third-party validation carries a different weight than anything a manufacturer says about its own products. The Energy Institute and EiBI have no commercial relationship with Neutron Systems — they selected this case study because it represented a technically rigorous, real-world example of best practice in fleet depot electrification. The fact that energy professionals across the UK are now studying this deployment as part of their CPD programme is, in practical terms, the industry saying: this is how it should be done.

For operators evaluating charging infrastructure suppliers or planning a depot electrification project, this provides an independent reference point. The technical approach described in the module — centralised power architecture, flexible gun installation, OCPP communications, and dynamic load management — reflects exactly how Neutron approaches every depot project.

Talking to Neutron About Your Depot

Every depot is different — different fleet size, route structure, grid connection, and physical layout. The scoping methodology described in the CPD module is the same process our engineering team runs for every new project: charge window analysis, power capacity modelling, layout configuration, and infrastructure planning, before a single piece of hardware is specified.

If you are at an early stage of planning a depot electrification project, we are happy to run that analysis with you at no cost. Talk to our engineering team to get started.