A UK-based consortium will open Europe's most powerful EV charging station in Oxford later this year.
Infrastructure firm Pivot Power and Oxford City Council will join forces with charging company Fastned, Tesla and charger provider Wenea to deliver 38 fast and ultra-rapid chargers at Redbridge Park and Ride.
The chargers will be powered by up to 10MW of power drawn, unlike at other UK hubs, directly from the national grid. This makes the Energy Superhub Oxford (ESO) the most powerful such charging site in Europe, according to Pivot Power.
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Ten 300kW chargers, which will be capable of adding 300 miles of range to an EV in 20 minutes, will be initially installed by Fastned, with a further 28 chargers to follow once the ESO opens later this year.
Wenea will install 16 of these additional chargers. These chargers will be rated at 7-22kW and compatible with most EVs. The final 12 chargers will be 250kW Tesla Superchargers for use solely by Tesla drivers.
The ESO is part of a wider push to reduce CO2 emissions in Oxford, spearheaded by Pivot Power, which has funding of £41 million to integrate EV charging, battery storage, low-carbon heating and smart energy management technologies to support Oxford in becoming zero-carbon by 2040 or earlier.
The hub is the first of up to 40 similar sites planned by Pivot Power across the UK to help deliver charging infrastructure needed for what the company estimates will be 36 million EVs on UK roads by 2040.
Pivot Power boss Matt Allen said: “Our goal is to help the UK accelerate [to] net-zero by delivering power where it's needed to support the EV and renewable energy revolution.
"Oxford is one of 40 sites we're developing across the UK, combining up to 2GW of battery storage with high-volume power connections for mass EV charging.”
The ESO comes on the heels of Oxford City Council’s confirmation of plans to open the UK’s first Zero Emission Zone (ZEZ) in August this year. The zone, which will encompass a handful of streets in the city centre, will charge every car that's not zero-emissions between £2 and £10 to enter.
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You say Oxford is introducing the "UK's first zero emissions zone" and then link to an article that specifies they are following in the footsteps of London, Bath and Birmingham (I think Bristol is about to apply one too). Is there anything different with Oxford's or is this just a mistake?
Great stuff. It looks like there will be one of these near me as well as a Gridserve Electric Forecourt. I won't use them, other than in exceptional circumstances, as I can charge at home. However, it does mean much greater convenience for those who can't.
I think it will only be another couple of years until tipping point at the rate we're going. I wonder how many of the "over my dead body" brigade will hold out until the bitter end?
@fellwalker - actually you have a good point, if you don't get off a Tesla charger (of which there will be many at this park and ride) within 5 minutes of reaching charge it starts to charge you a per minute penalty fee. Considering the speed superchargers go its would have to be a VERY quick shopping trip! @Bob Cat Brian - No its not me, but I work in conjunction with a lot of contractors of a wide range and I know how difficult it is. People still want their vending machines filled, but don't want to pay 20p extra on a bar of chocolate to cover the poor guy that has to get to the premises and fill it. I am also on the tipping scale between an EV and staying PHEV for now. On balance - adding together the lease and the tax cost, a fully loaded KUGA PHEV will cost me half a Tesla 3 LR to run, do I want the Tesla enough to pay double even though I keenly want to go EV? not sure.