Tesco plots UK electric vehicle charger surge

The UK's appetite for electric vehicles (EVs) shows no signs of slowing in the run up to Christmas, with a flurry of announcements designed at shifting e-mobility into the fast lane.

Tesco today announced a new partnership with Volkswagen that will create the largest retail EV market in the UK, with the rollout of more than 2,400 EV charging bays across 600 of the retailer's stores over the next three years.

Provided and installed by Pod Point, the EV chargers will be based at Tesco Extra and Superstore car parks, offering customers the ability to power up their electric cars using either a 7kW charger for free, or a rapid 50kW charger at a "small cost in line with the market rate", the retailer said.

It estimated the rollout would single-handedly boost the number of publicly available EV charger bays in the UK by 14 per cent.

Jason Tarry, CEO for Tesco UK and Ireland, said the move formed part of the firm's commitment to addressing environmental challenges andwould complement its commitment to use 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2030.

"We want to be the leading electric vehicle energy provider and to support our customers with more sustainable solutions," he said. "Our EV network provides a sustainable choice for our customers and charging while they shop is another little help to make their lives easier."

In a further boost for public EV charging, pub chain Marston's today separately announced it has teamed up with Engenie to install 400 rapid EV charging points at its pubs nationwide, in a deal it estimates will help remove up to 4.8 tonnes of harmful nitrogen oxides from UK roads each year.

Marston's, which has an estate of more than 1,600 pubs in the UK, said each of the 50kW chargers would be powered by 100 per cent renewable energy, with up to three cars able to charge in between 30-60 minutes at each site at any one time.

The move forms part of Engenie's plan to grow its network to 1,500 rapid EV chargers by 2021, said the firm's business development director Patrick Sherriff. "Marston's' pubs and restaurants are the ideal setting for our rapid chargers, giving drivers the convenience of charging their EV while they stop to eat, check emails or take a break from their journeys," he said.

(L-R) Patrick Sherriff, Engenie's business development director & Andy Kershaw, head of facilities management and projects at Marston's | Credit: Engenie

Meanwhile, major work is also getting underway to ensure the UK power grid is able to support the anticipated influx of EVs in the coming years, with energy regulator Ofgem today announcing it has given the green light to a new three-year project aimed at assessing the best approaches to rolling out commercial EVs.

Dubbed the "world's biggest trial of commercial EVs", the Optimise Prime project will see up to 3,000 EVs from Centrica, Uber, and others take to the roads in order to collect data on their use, supported by SSE Networks, Hitachi Europe and Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions.

Ofgem is providing £16.6m for the trial with project partners providing £18m, and the findings will be shared openly, the companies explained.

"With businesses buying 58 per cent of all new vehicles in the UK, it will be commercial vehicles that determine the speed of the transition to low carbon transport," the project consortium said. "This three-year innovation project will come up with practical ways of overcoming the up-front costs that are currently holding back many of the country's biggest commercial vehicle operators from making the switch to EVs."

Today's developments follows yesterday's launch of a brand new suite of smart EV chargers from tech developer myenergi, which it said were designed to "revolutionise EV charging at home and work".

Available to order from December, the new 'zappi' product range is designed for homeowners with their own power generation - such as solar panels - and includes features which enable them to automatically respond to changes in generation or power consumption, making them well suited for vehicle-to-grid-enabled cars.

The chargers come backed with a myenergi hub device and app that connects customers' products to the internet, enabling remote control and live energy use data from product use, said the firm, which has partnered with Octopus Electric Vehicles to offer the chargers through its EV energy tariff.

Credit: myenergie

Fiona Howarth, Octopus Electric Vehicles CEO, said the partnership would help its customers "move to zero-carbon transportation and cleaner air as part of our commitment to better health for the next generation, with an outlook for more sustainable living".