Real estate investor and developer Sixpenny Group has announced plans to create an electric vehicle (EV) “super charging hub” in Crawley, West Sussex.
Planning permission is still being sought for the 19,000 sq. ft project. If approved, a disused office block will be demolished and replaced by a 28 bay charging station, alongside two retail and restaurant units. Sixpenny Group anticipates that the project will be available to customers in early to mid-2025.
The 28 chargepoints will be made up of a mix of 22, 180, 240 and 400kW chargers, with eight being specifically designated for commercial vehicles. Plans for the site also include a battery energy storage system (BESS) capable of providing 1MW output for two hours.
Sixpenny Group is developing the plans with joint partners Arcus-PCD.
Egor Shestakov, director of Sixpenny Group, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to transform unproductive office space into EV facilities that are very much in demand within the UK’s largest industrial Business Improvement District.
“As a purpose-driven SME we’re focused on opportunities like this where our vision and commitment to sustainability and community will deliver long-term value for all stakeholders.”
David Bowcock, director of Sixpenny Group, said: “Working with our partners at Arcus-PCD we have a strong track record of creating highly investible assets and are looking forward to bringing another world-class development to Manor Royal. The new charging facility will help address the growing demand for rapid chargers, which are currently in short supply.
“With its proximity to the airport and other transport networks the location is booming, so bringing high quality EV charging capacity and facilities will help underpin its sustainable growth.”
Charge hubs are key to wider EV adoption
With research firm Bloomberg NEF predicting that global EV sales could break records this year, the need for charging infrastructure has never been clearer.
The UK government has set ambitious targets for public EV charger installations, aiming to have 300,000 EV chargers available to the public by 2030. However, research by Cornwall Insight has found that the pace of EV charger installations must more than double if the UK has any hope of meeting this target.
A lack of changepoints – perceived or real – is significantly holding back rates of EV adoption, with a recent survey finding that over half of UK drivers cite a lack of available changepoints as an issue preventing them from switching to an EV.
