Europe's most powerful EV charging hub to open in Oxford this year

A UK-based consortium will open Europe's most powerful EV charging station in Oxford later this year.

Infrastructure firm Pivot Power and Oxford City Council will join forces with charging company Fastned, Tesla and charger provider Wenea to deliver 38 fast and ultra-rapid chargers at Redbridge Park and Ride.

The chargers will be powered by up to 10MW of power drawn, unlike at other UK hubs, directly from the national grid. This makes the Energy Superhub Oxford (ESO) the most powerful such charging site in Europe, according to Pivot Power.

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Ten 300kW chargers, which will be capable of adding 300 miles of range to an EV in 20 minutes, will be initially installed by Fastned, with a further 28 chargers to follow in time for the ESO to open as early as November this year.

Wenea will install 16 of these additional chargers. These chargers will be rated at 7-22kW and compatible with most EVs. The final 12 chargers will be 250kW Tesla Superchargers for use solely by Tesla drivers.

The ESO is part of a wider push to reduce CO2 emissions in Oxford, spearheaded by Pivot Power, which has funding of £41 million to integrate EV charging, battery storage, low-carbon heating and smart energy management technologies to support Oxford in becoming zero-carbon by 2040 or earlier.

The hub is the first of up to 40 similar sites planned by Pivot Power across the UK to help deliver charging infrastructure needed for what the company estimates will be 36 million EVs on UK roads by 2040. Other locations being considered for Superhubs include Coventry, Birmingham and Manchester. 

Pivot Power boss Matt Allen said: “Our goal is to help the UK accelerate [to] net-zero by delivering power where it's needed to support the EV and renewable energy revolution.