Drivers of petrol and diesel cars will be disappointed if they pull into a new service station that opened in the UK over the weekend. Gridserve, the site’s operator, says the UK’s first electric-only service station in Braintree, Essex, is the first of a planned £1 billion UK-wide network of more than 100 such forecourts.
The site allows up to 36 electric vehicles to be charged simultaneously, with high power chargers that can deliver up to 350 kW of charging power, enabling people to add 200 miles of range in 20 minutes. It uses power from the UK’s first subsidy-free solar farm in Clay Hill in Bedfordshire and there is also a 6MWh battery onsite to balance the local energy grid and shift energy to periods when it is more valuable.
Drivers will initially be charged 24p per kWh of energy (including VAT), which the company says is currently the lowest ultra-high power charging rate on the market.
The site also includes the sort of retail outlets you would normally find at motorway service stations - WHSmith Travel, Costa Coffee, Booths, Post Office, and Gourmade as well as a waiting lounge. The site also includes business meeting room pods, free WiFi, and a wellbeing area with exercise bikes that generate electricity.
Toddington Harper, founder and CEO of Gridserve, said, “It’s our collective responsibility to prevent greenhouse gas emissions rising further, and electric vehicles 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’ve 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 full decade ahead of the 2030 ban on petrol and diesel cars.”
James Cleverly, the local MP and government minister, said, “Our government is committed to increasing the take-up of electric vehicles, to clean our air and enable us to achieve net zero carbon emissions as quickly as possible, which is why we have just brought forward the ban on new petrol or diesel to 2030. Gridserve’s electric forecourt…is the most advanced charging facility in the world.”
The company has also launched a net-zero electric vehicle leasing business in partnership with Hitachi Capital. Monthly leasing payments under the scheme will include free charging at Gridserve sites. The company said this would remove a key barrier to mass EV adoption, enabling people to accurately compare the cost of leasing a petrol or diesel vehicle, plus fuel, with an electric vehicle with fuel included.