elective.com — 2023-03-06
Land transportation
BP Pulse has opened its largest, most powerful EV charging hub yet in the UK. The new hub in Kettering, North Northamptonshire, built by The EV Network and operated by BP Pulse, has an installed capacity of 3 megawatts and features ten 300 kW chargers.
The new hub is capable of charging up to 20 vehicles simultaneously, as BP advertises, with a capacity of 150 kW. BP notes that this suffices to charge a range of up to 100 miles, such as the distance from Kettering to London, in only 15 minutes.
“It’s our largest and most powerful EV charging hub yet. Customers say power is more important than the number of charging points,” said Akira Kirton, vice president, bp pulse UK, adding: “That’s why we’re focussing on expanding our ultra-fast charging infrastructure, using the latest technology to ensure reliability, and designed to keep up with the charging speeds of vehicle batteries as they advance.”
The petroleum giant is also already working on its next charging hub, which is to under construction in the West Midlands and will contain 16 ultra-fast 300 kW charging stations when it opens. By 2030, BP Pulse wants to have “hundreds of additional charging hubs in other locations around the UK”. The whole plan is currently estimated to cost an investment of up to £18bn, £1bn of which is earmarked for EV charging infrastructure.
This comes as BP is investing heavily in expanding its charging infrastructure worldwide, in anticipation of having to change its business model. In the USA, BP recently invested in acquiring TravelCenters of America, a rest-stop operating company, as well as investing billions in a charging network in cooperation with Hertz. The plan is not to fully depend on partnerships, however, as BP also announced plans to build its own ‘Gigahub’ charging network in the USA in 2022 October. A similar network is also under construction in Australia.