Electric vehicle (EV) charger manufacturer Ohme has announced it has partnered with housebuilder Hill Group UK as its official EV charger supplier.
Ohme will equip newly-built Hill Group homes with the Ohme ePod EV charger. This will grant access to home EV charging to those moving into Hill Group properties, which the firms hope will encourage the uptake of EVs. Ohme expressed its enthusiasm for the partnership in a LinkedIn post, commenting: “Here’s to powering greener living with clever tech!”
This is not the only partnership Ohme has formed in recent weeks. In November, the company announced that vehicle manufacturer Smart UK had chosen it as its official home EV charger partner. As such, Smart UK will now recommend Ohme home EV chargers to its customers seeking a home EV charging solution, with Ohme chargers available to view in Smart showrooms.
In October, Ohme joined forces with the UK’s largest electrical retailer, Currys, as an official home EV charger partner. Ohme chargers will soon be available for direct-to-consumer purchases at Currys stores and online. The chargers will be rolled out gradually, beginning with 50 of the retailer’s flagship stores.
Meanwhile, Hill Group has also been working to boost sustainability in the homebuilding industry. The group is one of 50 housing developers supporting Octopus Energy in its mission to build 100,000 “Zero Bills” homes by the year 2030. All homes developed under this partnership will be fitted with solar panels, battery energy storage systems (BESS) and heat pumps, all optimised by Kraken, Octopus Energy’s technology platform.
Other housing developers taking part in the project include Bellway Homes, Tilia Homes, Hopkins Homes and most recently Thakeham Homes, which committed to submitting plans to develop 1,350 “Zero Bills” homes in West Sussex.
Increasing availability of home charging solutions could be key to increasing uptake of EVs, with public charging costs putting some drivers off making the switch. Data from EV charging mapping service Zapmap has shown that charging an EV using public chargepoints can cost as much as £400 more annually than driving an equivalent petrol or diesel car and between £700 and £1,100 more than charging an EV at home.
