ZipCharge, the portable EV charging company, has announced partnerships with ICEE Managed Services and Graphite, bringing together three British businesses to develop the mechanical and electrical systems for GoHub, the world’s first portable charging infrastructure for shared public use.
GoHub hosts multiple ZipCharge Go EV (electric vehicle) powerbanks — which can be carried in the boot of an electric car — to address the need for convenient, flexible, and low-cost energy.
ZipCharge says GoHub is a secure way of housing, recharging, and providing access to the ZipCharge Go, so that anyone can access a portable powerbank at the lowest cost.
“The GoHub is modular and flexible in size, suitable for a diverse number of locations, including on-street, in car parks, at work and in private environments. It will form part of the global roll-out of the ZipCharge ‘energy point network’, the aim being to deploy 100,000 GoHubs around the world by 2030.”
Jonathan Carrier, ZipCharge’s co-founder, added: “We are delighted to have found two strategic partners in ICEE and Graphite. Together, we will deliver the GoHub, a revolution in public charging provision, providing a community-based solution that can be installed anywhere, at a much lower cost and at a much faster rate, while enabling any parking space to be a charging spot.
Mass EV adoption“The ability to roll-out electric vehicle charging infrastructure at speed is essential to allow national and local governments to deploy it at a faster rate where it is needed the most to support mass EV adoption. EV owners will now have the choice to purchase the Go outright, on subscription or rent one through the GoHub. The GoHub is the world’s first portable EV charging infrastructure for shared, public use.”
Working together with ZipCharge, ICEE and Graphite undertook a three-month concept study to evaluate the design, technical, operational and installation challenges of the early GoHub concept. From the start of 2022, ICEE undertook detailed engineering design work on a range of GoHub configurations, focused on delivering a modular solution that could maximise the number of Go powerbanks available in the smallest possible footprint.
ICEE has developed bespoke metal enclosures for a range of applications; the company also offers a full engineering and manufacturing service to develop bespoke cabinets using lean methodology plus advanced design technics and production technologies.
Meanwhile, Graphite has worked with the likes of Vodafone and Brompton bike hire, developing the electronics and software to operate and manage the hire of Brompton’s unique folding bicycle lockers; these can identify in which dock and bay each individual bike is located throughout the UK, which is how the ZipCharge Go powerbanks will be monitored inside the GoHub.