EvoEnergy are proud to have been awarded the contract to construct two new HyperHub sites, next to Monks Cross and Poppleton Bar Park and Rides. The two sites are a City of York Council £2.2 million investment to develop the sites into high quality, high-speed electric vehicle (EV) charging hubs.
Each HyperHub site will consist of solar PV canopies, battery energy storage, four Rapid and four Ultra Rapid EV chargers. The chargers will help the region to support the next generation of EVs, which have significantly larger battery capacities, and support higher charging speeds.
Construction on both sites is due to start in February 2021, and will be led by EvoEnergy. The new sites at Monks Cross and Poppleton are scheduled for completion in June 2021.
Why build the HyperHubs?
In order to reduce climate change emissions and improve air quality around the region, City of York Council approached EvoEnergy to design and install our full range of technologies to help them meet their political and social goals.
A HyperHub system will help to reduce carbon emissions and improve local air quality thanks to EV’s eliminating NOx emissions at the point of use. In addition to generating low carbon electricity on site through PV arrays, all of the electricity supplied from the national grid will be generated by renewable sources providing users with low carbon electricity and ensuring that no NOx emissions are emitted from electricity generation.
Moreover, the wide range of technologies used on these projects will help the sites to reduce their dependence on the electricity grid and offer a sustainable source of energy to its users.
What technologies are included in the projects?
Monks Cross and Poppleton Bar Park will both feature a solar canopy system (100kWp) which provides a source of green electricity and keeps users dry. In addition to this, both sites will feature a battery storage solution (348kW / 507kWh), meaning that the Council will be able to maintain a lower tariff than commercial operators can offer.
Both of the HyperHub sites will contain Ultra-Rapid (150kW) and Rapid (50kW) vehicle chargers, helping to support the uptake of modern EV’s that have larger battery capacities and are capable of Ultra Rapid charging.
“We are proud to have been awarded these challenging multifaceted projects,” said EvoEnergy’s senior design engineer, Jonathan Roper. “They combine the full range of EvoEnergy’s technology offering, and it is a pleasure working with a future looking organisation such as City of York Council.”
The development of these sites and others is intended make the decision to switch to EVs easier for private car owners, taxi drivers and businesses.
How are the projects being funded?
York City Council has successfully secured £1 million of European Regional Development Funding and £800,000 from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles, along with £400,000 of the Council’s own capital funding to install the first two HyperHubs.
This comes at a time when the nation prepares to transition across to using EVs with the announcement of a complete ban on sales of new petrol or diesel cars by 2030, with plug-in hybrid sales to end in 2035.
Getting ready for the transition to EVs
With the UK government’s ban on the sale of combustion engine cars rapidly approaching, it is inevitable that we are heading towards a future where electric vehicles dominate the roads.
When this happens, the public will start to expect available electric charging points for their vehicles in most places they visit. This includes town centres, commercial establishments, motorway service stations and even whilst they are work at the office or on site.
To be prepared for this, plenty of financial investment is being pumped into renewable energy projects to get the UK’s EV infrastructure ready for the increased demand we are going to see over the next 10 years.
The HyperHubs project will provide an example of what can be achieved when multiple technical expertise are brought together, and gives us a glimpse into the future of road transport.
The project has received £1million of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is the Managing Authority for European Regional Development Fund. Established by the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/european-gr…