In this round up of electric vehicle (EV) news Centrica partners Stagecoach to support its electrification and both Pod Point and RAW Charging install charging points for railway operators.
Centrica teams up with Stagecoach for electric buses
Centrica Business Solutions has installed EV charging for Stagecoach’s new fleet of 32 fully electric double-decker buses in Manchester.
The buses are equipped with two charging points, with each charger having twin 40kW AC feeds, meaning that when combined the 80kW supply can recharge buses in three and a half hours.
The design and delivery of the charging infrastructure was led by Centrica Business Solutions, including a new 6.6kV HV timed connected, 2MVA transformer, on site solar generation and charger energy management system, which has been built with expansion in mind to allow Stagecoach to scale their energy needs.
A dynamic charging schedule has also been developed by Centrica, lowering Stagecoach’s energy costs and taking advantage of surplus energy on the grid.
“This is a significant milestone in the history of transport in Greater Manchester and represents one of the biggest single investments in electric buses anywhere in Europe,” Elisabeth Tasker, managing director of Stagecoach Manchester, said.
Pod Point lays claim to largest EV charging hub in rail
Pod Point has installed 27 EV charging points at Hatfield Station in a partnership with Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR).
It forms part of a programme of wide-ranging station improvements, with 12 new charging points also installed at Haywards Heath train station, adding to the existing 114 in place across the GTR network.
The new locations were chosen as a result of a heat-mapping exercise conducted by GTR that revealed EV ownership and sales ‘hot spots’ around the UK.
“We see the GTR EV charging hubs at Hatfield and Haywards Heath as a blueprint for EV charging across the rail industry,” Erik Fairbairn, founder and CEO of Pod Point said.
“It offers connected electrified transport for all UK commuters and for the millions of drivers without off-street parking it provides a viable and convenient alternative to domestic or workplace charging.”
RAW Charging partners Great Western Railway for 26 smart charging points
RAW Charging has installed 26 smart charging points at a new railway station in Worcestershire in collaboration with Great Western Railway (GWR).
The Worcestershire Parkway Station in Norton was opened this week, with RAW Charging having secured the contract for the EV charging at the site following a “lengthy and rigorously-scored tender process”.
According to the company, a key issue for railway car park operators when it comes to installing EV chargers was the issue of ‘idle’ chargers, whereby commuters would plug in and leave their EVs for extended periods of time.
“With Worcestershire Parkway and the dozens of other railway station projects that RAW are working on, it has been key to consider the different use cases when implementing the design and installation of EV charging infrastructure, and not least catering for the ‘commuter’,” Neil Broadbank, RAW Charging’s key account manager said.
He added that the project had two approaches – installing a larger number of chargers to meet future demand and configuring and trialing a combination of different pricing and access structures on the ChargePoint platform.
