Oxford to get Europe’s ‘most powerful’ electric car charging hub
First of 40 planned Pivot Power ‘Superhubs’ will arrive in Oxford later this year, with 38 fast and rapid EV public chargers
Europe’s most powerful electric car charging hub is being built in Oxford, opening in the final quarter of 2021 with 38 fast and rapid public charge points.
The Pivot Power ‘Energy Superhub Oxford’ at Redbridge Park & Ride will have up to 10MW of power, and is the first of 40 similar planned sites. The Oxford hub will be home to 10 Fastned 300kW chargers, capable of charging 14 EVs at once and adding 300 miles of range in 20 minutes. At present, only the most advanced EVs on the market - such as the Porsche Taycan - are capable of charging at this rate, but more models will be launched with this capability in the future.
The Superhub will also feature a dozen 250kW Tesla Superchargers, and 16 7-22kW Wenea charge points. Pivot Power says the site will scale up further to meet EV charging needs in the Oxford area over the next 30 years.
The £41 million hub is directly connected to the high-voltage national grid, so won’t put a strain on local electricity supplies. It will be powered by 100 per cent renewable energy, some of which will come from a solar panel-covered roof.
The site will go live shortly after Oxford introduces its new Zero Emission Zone in August, which will be active in a small area of the city centre between 7am and 7pm, 365 days a year, before expanding in 2022 to cover a larger area of the city. Hybrids emitting less than 75g/km CO2 will be charged £2 per day to enter the zone, whereas the fee will be £4 for Euro 4 petrol and Euro 6 diesel vehicles, and £10 for pre-Euro 4 petrol and pre-Euro 6 diesel vehicles.
Oxford aims to be entirely carbon-neutral by 2040, a decade ahead of the rest of the UK. As such, Oxford City Council is supporting the hub, with Cllr Tom Hayes, cabinet member for green transport and zero carbon, saying the city is the “natural home” for this type of project.
Matt Allen, CEO of Pivot Power, said the Oxford Superhub was “a blueprint we want to replicate right across the country”.
Michiel Langezaal, CEO of Fastned, added: “Big stations are the only way to provide charging capacity to the exponentially growing number of EVs coming to our roads.”
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