Gridserve has opened the UK’s first ‘Electric Forecourt’ — near Braintree in Essex — and says it represents a major breakthrough for the “massive expansion of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure in the UK.”
The site is the first of over 100 Electric Forecourts being built by Gridserve over the next five years as part of a £1 billion UK-wide programme designed to “provide people with the confidence that the UK will have the charging infrastructure required for mass EV adoption well ahead of the 2030 ban on petrol and diesel cars”.
Toddington Harper, Gridserve’s founder and CEO, said: “This announcement represents a major milestone in achieving Gridserve’s purpose to deliver sustainable energy and ‘move the needle’ on climate change.
“It is our collective responsibility to prevent greenhouse gas emissions rising further, and EVs powered by clean energy represent a large part of the solution.
“However, charging has to be simple and free of anxiety, which is why we have designed our Electric Forecourts entirely around the needs of drivers, updating the traditional petrol station model for a net-zero-carbon world and delivering the confidence people need to make the switch to electric transport today — a decade ahead of the 2030 ban on petrol and diesel cars.
“Together with our charging-included electric-vehicle-leasing business, which we are also launching in partnership with Hitachi Capital (UK) plc, people now have the full confidence to make the transition to an EV, knowing that charging is in hand — and that it is actually less expensive to use an EV than a petrol or diesel alternative.”
The Braintree Electric Forecourt, which is adjacent to Great Notley, just off the A131, allows 36 EVs to be charged simultaneously, with high-power chargers that can deliver up to 350kW of charging power, thereby enabling drivers to add 200 miles of range in 20min — and much faster in the future as EV battery technologies mature.
Drivers charging at the Electric Forecourt will initially pay just 24p per kWhr of energy (including VAT), which is currently the lowest ultra-high-power charging rate on the market today. This means a typical charge from 20% to 80% costs under £10 for an average-size EV.