Category Archives: Ecotricity

Rapid charging at Birmingham Airport

Birmingham Airport provides rapid charging

This could be very useful for me and other EV drivers based in the Midlands

Birmingham Airport has become one of the first British airports to join the Electric Highway and offer fast charging for electric motorists.

Green energy company Ecotricity powers their Electric Highway with 100% renewable energy from the wind and the sun, allowing 35 different models of electric and plug-in hybrid cars to recharge in between 20 and 30 minutes.

Rapid charging at Birmingham Airport
Rapid charging at Birmingham Airport

Such is the rate of growth in electric cars, that the motoring industry is on track to sell more electric vehicles in the first six months of 2015 than in the previous four years combined.

The Electric Highway is a central part of this success story – for the first time powering one million miles in a month during May and scheduled to reach two million miles a month by the end of the year.

Jo Lloyd, commercial director at Birmingham Airport, said:

“We’re always looking at new and innovative ways of improving the passenger experience at Birmingham Airport, which is why we have installed these electric charging points.

“The growing popularity of electric and hybrid cars means it is vital we provide the facilities that will enable our passengers to travel to-and-from the airport as easily as possible. We’re extremely proud to support this green form of energy and the obvious benefits it brings to the environment.”

Read more: Birmingham Airport

The Electric Highway offers an 80% charge in half an hour for compatible vehicles

Lands End and John O’Groats to be connected by Electric Highway

Good news on the roll-out of currently the best charging network

Ecotricity is to install a rapid charging point at John O’Groats in Scotland within weeks, completing coverage on the iconic route from the northernmost point of the UK to Lands End in Cornwall.

The point will become part of the Electric Highway, which includes almost 250 charging points at 150 locations across the UK, in most cases offering an 80% charge for compatible electric vehicles within half an hour.

With sites at 95% of Britain’s motorway service areas, as well as Ikea stores in city centres, the Electric Highway is now delivery enough energy to power a million miles of electric driving every month. The electricity used is supplied using renewable sources.

Dale Vince, founder of the Electric Highway, said:

“The idea of being able to complete that iconic journey from Land’s End to John O’Groats in any electric car you can buy from a showroom is something quite special – if you’d have said that was possible five years ago, people would have laughed at you.

“Our Electric Highway already covers over 95% of the motorway network, and we’ve begun the installation of electricity pumps on A-roads and strategic locations such as airports and ports – with significant new funding just secured, we’ll be stepping on the gas in the coming months to keep pace with demand.”

Source: EV Fleet World

Electric Highway use quadruples in nine months

Nissan Leaf: The Electric Highway covers 90% of the UK's motorway services (Image: Ecotricity)
Nissan Leaf: The Electric Highway covers 90% of the UK’s motorway services (Image: Ecotricity)

The Electric Highway rapid charging network has had almost a four-fold rise in the number of vehicles plugging in over the last nine months, according to green utility company Ecotricity, which is responsible for running it.

A total of 4,080 cars used the network in the last quarter of 2013, more than doubling to 8,891 in the first quarter of this year, and 15,152 in the second quarter – a 271% rise, as plug-in car registrations in the UK continue to climb.

The network, which now spans 90% of all UK motorway service stations and includes 170 charging points, has so far provided 250,000 kWh of 100% renewably sourced electricity, or over a million miles of electric driving, for free.

By the end of the year, Ecotricity expects to have rapid chargers at all service stations in the UK, giving an 80% charge in under half an hour, with many sites gaining a second unit with the new Combined Charging System connector, compatible with BMW and Volkswagen’s electric vehicles.

As a result, the company estimates that it will have reached two million miles of free electric driving to its membership base, which is gaining 800 registrations each month.

Dale Vince, founder of Ecotricity and the Electric Highway, said: ‘Fast chargers are a massive turning point for electric cars in Britain, knowing you can recharge a car in 20 minutes, or about the time it takes to have a cup of coffee, and travel the length and breadth of Britain if you want to – is a massive boost.’

Source: EV Fleet World