Pod Point has completed the installation of 67 electric vehicle charge points at the head office of contracting firm Skanska UK, making it the home of what is now thought to be the largest single site installation of EV chargers in the country.
Earlier this week, Gnewt Cargo and EO Charging had laid claim to the title after installing over 40 chargers at a depot in East London however Pod Point’s announcement means it is now thought to be one of the largest in Europe.
Skanksa, which employs 6,000 people in the UK, worked with the charging provider to install the 7kW charge points within two weeks to allow employees to charge while at work. The installation is part of the company’s commitment to decarbonise its fleet as fast as technology allows, and to have the lowest emissions fleet in the industry.
It currently has around 135 plug-ins, five fully electric and three hydrogen electric vehicles.
Erik Fairbairn, chief executive of Pod Point, said: “This is the largest single site charge point installation that we’re aware of in the UK, but also a sign of a larger shift over the past six months, as more businesses wake up to the benefits of EVs.
“We’ve certainly seen a big increase in enquiries from companies wanting futureproof charge point installations that can be scaled up as their fleets make the switch to electric.”
In addition to the chargers, Pod Point also installed enough infrastructure on site to allow for up to 243 charge points to match the power supply allowance of the site’s car park current power supply for use with Pod Point’s Array charging load balancing supply.
This technology balances the load across all existing 67 sockets to ensure all vehicles receive power when plugged in without overloading the mains supply. Once some of the cars are fully charged, the load balancing system redistributes the power accordingly to ensure the remaining vehicles get the most amount of power available.
Pod Point’s management information system (MIS) also allows Skanska to monitor usage for each employee, energy consumption and the cost to the building as well as CO2 savings and the ability to set pricing tariffs should they wish.
The solution enables Skanska to control access to EV charging centrally, monitor usage and set custom electricity tariffs at the Hertfordshire site and others in the UK.
Skanska’s senior project manager Paul Jarvis said: “The installation of the EV charge points was a credit to all concerned. All site work was done efficiently, on time and to budget with minimal impact on a busy, occupied site.”
