Gridserve / Ecotricity deal

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Gridserve are acquiring 25% of Ecotricity's Electric Highway.

Immediate replacement program for existing units with new triple-standard contactless payment ones, that can charge two cars at the same time. Should be "mostly" done by summer.

Bigger rollout of 6-12 high power (350kW DC) rapid chargers at these motorway services sites over a longer period.

Gridserve taking over the back-end, billing, and 24/7 support of these.

https://youtu.be/lnuH43-nowM

https://www.ecotricity.co.uk/our-news/2021/ecotric...

https://www.gridserve.com/2021/03/12/ecotricity-an...

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smallredball said:

sjg said:

Bigger rollout of 6-12 high power (350kW DC) rapid chargers at these motorway services sites over a longer period.

A dozen for the whole country?

At each motorway service area. Where there’s separate ones for each direction there should be that many on each side.

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Tesla-style autocharge too. No faffing with apps or cards once you're set up.

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McDonalds already has a deal with Instavolt. https://instavolt.co.uk/mcdonalds-partners-with-in...

Some are in already - the one at J22 M25 (London Colney) is right off the motorway junction so more convenient than South Mimms.

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Frimley111R said:

I do feel its a bit of a 'jump on the bandwagon' type decision for KFC and MaccyDs. People spend about 30 mins there, often far less than that. It's hardly worth bothering charging and those that do either leave their cars for hours, blocking others, or block up the restaurant seats as they wait ages for any meaningful charge.

That said, you can make a good return on the charging if you charge(£) properly for it.

20 or 30 mins tops on a 50kW rapid, with toilets and coffee and food available is all I need most of the time to get a journey done. Not everyone is needing to fill up 60+kWh EVs.

That London Colney one is perfect for a quick pitstop if I'm heading home on the M25 and either me or the car needs it, I only need 50 miles of range from there to get home so 10 or 15 mins on charge while I grab a drink is spot on.