A new nine-bay ultra-rapid electric vehicle (EV) Charging Hub has been installed in Sheffield by national charging network Be.EV, that will help to tackle air pollution in the city.
The chargers, installed by national charging network Be.EV, are ideally located in the busy Parkway Central Retail Park, on a key trunk-road between Sheffield city centre and the M1.
This busy road sees an average of over 66,000 vehicles pass every day, contributing significantly to air pollution. This site, located less than three miles from the city centre, will help encourage Sheffield residents to transition to EVs and improve the region’s health as a whole.
The site’s ultra-rapid Kempower chargers – capable of charging up to 150kW – can add up to 165 miles of range in a short 20-minute stop. They’ll also help to tackle Sheffield’s air pollution problem, which causes one in 20 deaths in the city.
Sheffield City Council’s Clean Air Zone has already gone a long way in tackling this problem. EV charging infrastructure is one piece of the puzzle that will help to improve this further, as it will help to accelerate the region’s shift to EVs.
This is important, as Yorkshire and the Humber has some of the poorest charging provision in the country, with only three regions in the UK having fewer ultra-rapid chargers. The site currently has nine ultra-rapid bays, but has the infrastructure ready to accommodate 20 charging bays in total.
This phased approach means the hub takes up the right amount of space for now, and can be easily upgraded for the future as EV adoption grows and the chargers become busier.
On Thursday, Be.EV is celebrating the launch of the hub by offering drivers who use the Be.EV app half-price charging all day on Thursday 7th November.
The charge points are ideally located for fleet drivers given the proximity to the main thoroughfare. There’s also no height restriction barriers on site – often a trouble faced by larger vehicles – and a huge variety of choices for food and refreshments nearby.
It’s estimated that 40% of all vehicles on the road are grey fleet vehicles, so it’s essential that charging hubs are built with the needs of these drivers in mind.
The charge points are accompanied by three labelled waiting bays, giving EV owners clear spaces to queue if the Hub becomes busy.
There are also two marked accessible bays, one of which is fully PAS 1899 compliant, to make this charging hub as easy-to-use as possible for disabled users.
Not only will drivers get cheaper charging throughout the launch day, they’ll also get free hot drink vouchers when they charge, which can be redeemed at the Parkway Central Starbucks branch. They’ll also receive a voucher for 10% off their next Starbucks coffee, to be used when they next visit the branch.
Be.EV – which is backed by £55 million from NatWest and KfW-IPEX Bank, and majority owned by Octopus Energy Generation – has a unique focus on connecting communities left behind by the EV charging roll-out and ending air pollution deaths once and for all.
Asif Ghafoor, CEO of Be.EV, says: ”The air pollution deaths statistics in Sheffield are shocking and need to be drastically reduced. The Clean Air Zone introduced last year is a great start, but encouraging people to switch to EVs by giving them access to convenient public charging is the key way to finish the job.
“Charging infrastructure will go a long way to driving this. We need to make it as easy as possible for drivers to make the shift to driving EVs, and this ultra-rapid charging hub at Parkway is a step in the right direction.
“Fleet drivers make up a significant part of the UK’s motoring community and they need convenient charging more than most. It’s a key priority of ours to make Be.EV synonymous with the fleet community.”
