Scotland’s most powerful electric vehicle (EV) charging hub opens at Myrekirk Roundabout in Dundee today (11 July). The site, developed by SSE, was officially opened by Fiona Hyslop, cabinet secretary for transport. The hub incorporates 24 ultra-rapid charging bays with a total capacity of almost 2.5GW.
Eight of the hub’s bays are equipped with 360KW charge units, capable of delivering up to 60 miles of range in around three minutes, which makes Myrekirk the first publicly accessible location in Scotland to offer such rapid charging. The remaining 16 bays feature 150KW units, which can provide around 8 miles of range per minute when charging a standard family car.
In addition, the hub’s green roof is covered with sedum plants, designed to enhance biodiversity and contribute to air quality improvements by filtering pollutants.
Phasing out petrol and diesel vehicles
SSE’s Myrekirk hub aligns with the UK governments’ commitment to phasing out new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030, and Scotland’s transport secretary Fiona Hyslop emphasised the importance of investment in achieving these goals, stating: “To reduce transport emissions and protect the climate, we need private investment like what we see here from SSE at Myrekirk. This will help grow the network at the pace and scale required to meet our commitment of approximately 24,000 additional public charge points by 2030.”
Neil Kirkby, managing director for Enterprise at SSE, highlighted the company’s role in decarbonising the UK and Ireland’s transport system, noting, “The opening of Scotland’s most powerful charging hub at Myrekirk represents a key milestone on our journey to roll out 300 ultra-rapid charging hubs over the next five years.”
Impressive growth
The UK’s EV charging infrastructure continues to grow at an impressive pace. Data from Zapmap indicates a 43% increase in the number of public chargers in the year leading to June 2024, totalling 5,663. Despite this progress, there are ongoing concerns that charging infrastructure may not keep pace with the rising number of electric vehicle sales. Cornwall insight’s recent analysis suggests the UK needs to double the pace of its chargepoint installs in order to hit its 2030 target.