Current± rounds up the top electric vehicle (EV) stories from this week.
Farnborough International Exhibition partners with Rolec EV to deliver chargepoints
The Farnborough International Exhibition and Conference Centre has chosen Rolec EV as its charging partner.
The conference centre, which hosts the Farnborough International Airshow, has placed an initial order for 18, 22kW chargepoints, which will be ready in time for visitors to the Fully Charged Live EV show at the end of April 2023.
Rolec EV will also supply load balancing to two visitor car parks, with plans for additional chargepoints on the site in the near future.
Onsite charging will be powered by Monta’s SmartQueue, which will allow virtual queuing for chargepoints.
“Farnborough International Exhibition and Conference Centre have been actively providing a platform for the EV industry for years; hosting events such as Fully Charged Live as well as ITT Hub and the British Motor Show, and we’re excited to be officially working with them now, and in the future, to deliver reliable EV charging to their visitors,” said Frankie Mellon, sales director at Rolec EV.
IKEA invests £4.5 million in charging infrastructure for last mile EV fleet
IKEA has announced an investment of £4.5 million in charging infrastructure for its EV fleet as it seeks to meet its net zero targets.
The deal sees IKEA partnering with Mer, a European charging company owned by Statkraft. Mer will be responsible for the end-to-end implementation and ongoing management and maintenance.
196 chargepoints will be available for new EVs owned by IKEA and those used by its delivery partners – 53 of which will offer rapid charging – in what the company has called: “one of the biggest EV charging infrastructure projects for last mile fleets in the UK.”
IKEA has stated that is plans to achieve 60% zero emission deliveries in the UK and Ireland by this summer, as the firm aims to achieve 100% zero emissions deliveries by 2025.
By 2025 IKEA hopes to have a fleet of 500 EVs.
Jakob Bertilsson, country customer fulfilment manager at IKEA UK & Ireland, said: “Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do at IKEA, and we are always looking for ways to reduce our impact on the planet while supporting our customers to live more sustainable lives at home.”
The investment was also welcomed by UK government minister for transport decarbonisation, Jesse Norman, who said: “this investment is the latest example of businesses and government working together to decarbonise all aspects of road transport, improve air quality and create healthier, buzzing communities.”
Liberty Charge rebrands as Believ
EV charging company Liberty Charge has rebranded to become Believ, in a move the company said better reflects its product offer.
Believ said it wanted to better reflect the fact that it offers all charging speeds, and “to signal that it now delivers charge point solutions to businesses, as well as local authorities”.
The company installs, manages and maintains all speeds of publicly accessible charge points for both the public and business sectors. It aims to take an ‘all speeds’ approach to “help local authorities to better serve the needs of EV drivers, and encourage more people to make the switch from petrol and diesel vehicles.”
In a statement Believ added: “Increasing the pace of the UK’s EV charging infrastructure roll out is essential because we are currently falling short in delivering the Government’s ambition of installing 300,000 publicly-accessible charge points by 2030. Speed is therefore of the essence. Believ holds large stock volumes of charge points capable of delivering all speeds, meaning we’re able to deploy at scale and at pace.”
The company will remain part of Liberty Global and Zouk Capital, with Virgin Media O2 as its delivery partner.
