An electric vehicle charging superhub is coming to the UK city of Oxford later this year, which will be Europe’s most powerful and the UK’s largest charging station.
Powered by renewable energy, the EV charging hub will initially feature 38 fast and ultra-rapid chargers – the most powerful single site in Europe – with up to 10MW of power and will scale up to help meet the need for EV charging in the area for the next 30 years.
The £41m world-first facility located at Redbridge Park & Ride comes from UK-based Pivot Power, part of EDF Renewables, and Oxford City Council who have joined up with Fastned, the European electric vehicle (EV) fast charging company, Tesla Superchargers and Wenea, one of the largest EV charging services providers in Europe.
Fastned will initially install ten chargers at the Superhub with 300kW of power, capable of adding 300 miles of range in just 20 minutes for up to hundreds of EVs per day. Tesla will install 12 250kW Superchargers, and Wanea will deploy 16 7-22kW charging points.
The station will be powered by 100% renewable energy, partly generated by the company’s trademark solar roof, and all makes and models of EVs will be able to charge at the highest rates possible simultaneously.
The hub is directly connected to the high voltage national electricity grid, to provide the power needed to charge hundreds of EVs at the same time quickly, without putting strain on the local electricity network or requiring costly upgrades. The EV Superhub will share a new connection to National Grid’s high voltage transmission network with a 50MW hybrid battery – the largest ever deployed using lithium-ion and vanadium flow technology – to enable more renewable power onto the grid. This innovative network, developed by Pivot Power, has capacity to expand to key locations throughout Oxford to meet mass EV charging needs, from buses and taxis to commercial fleets.
It is the first of up to 40 similar sites planned across the UK to help deliver charging infrastructure needed for the estimated 36 million EVs by 2040.
Matt Allen, CEO at Pivot Power, said: “Our goal is to help the UK accelerate net zero by delivering power where it is needed to support the EV and renewable energy revolution. Oxford is one of 40 sites we are developing across the UK, combining up to 2GW of battery storage with high volume power connections for mass EV charging. Energy Superhub Oxford supports EDF’s plan to become Europe’s leading e-mobility energy company by 2023, and is a blueprint we want to replicate right across the country, working hand in hand with local communities to create cleaner, more sustainable cities where people want to live and work.”
