BP pulse, The EV Network (EVN), and NEC Group, announced the launch of the United Kingdom’s largest public electric vehicle charging hub on the NEC Campus in the West Midlands.
The site, called Gigahub, has 16 ultra-fast chargers (14 dual-head and two designated accessible bays) rated at up to 300 kilowatts, which can simultaneously charge up to 30 electric vehicles (at up to 150 kW each).
Additionally, there are 150 normal charging units (AC) - 7 kW each, which means that in total up to 180 electric vehicles can charge simultaneously.
According to the press release, the Gigahub will help serve the seven million visitors attracted to the NEC Campus annually. The station is less than one mile from Junction 6 on the M42 and just 2.4 miles from Junction 7A for the M6. A positive thing is that the site has some amenities, including a Starbucks Coffee drive-thru.
To build such a large EV charging station, The EV Network secured a 6.5 MVA grid connection.
The project represents the single biggest private investment in EV charging in the UK, according to the press release. That would indicate that the market is already mature enough to attract private investments. Let's recall that almost a quarter of new passenger cars sold so far this year in the country were rechargeable, while over 16 percent were all-electric.
Akira Kirton, vice president of bp pulse UK, said that the company plans to roll out hundreds of hubs this decade, mentioning locations like urban areas, on trunk roads and motorways, and at destinations such as restaurants, retail parks, and hotels. Of course, not all sites will be equally large, but it seems that the EV charging stations are expected to be much bigger in the future.
In the early days, there were often single or just a few chargers with a much lower power output than today. However, as there are more electric vehicles on the road, sites with more than 10 ultra-fast chargers do not surprise anyone.
