UK’s Largest EV Charging Hub Set to Electrify Brent Cross
- The 236-bay hub will be installed in Brent Cross Shopping Centre car park, and will be delivered by leading electric vehicle charging provider Franklin Energy
Hammerson and Aberdeen Standard Investments, joint owners of the flagship destination Brent Cross, have unveiled plans for a landlord owned EV charging facility in the destination’s car park. The hub will be delivered by leading electric vehicle charging provider Franklin Energy over the next five years, and on completion, is set to be the largest electric charging facility in the UK, with the potential creation of up to 236 EV bays.
The chargers, which will be operated and maintained by Franklin Energy on the LiFe Network, will be supplied by EVBox and installed over a number of phases. The first phase, which is due to complete later this year, will see the installation of 50 fast charging points (22kW AC) in the Multi Storey car park and two ultra-rapid charging points (350 kW DC) in the Western overflow car park. Electricity will be provided through our REGO-backed, clean electricity contracts.
Group Head of Sustainability at Hammerson, Louise Ellison, commented:At Hammerson, we are continuously looking for innovative ways to adapt our centres to the changing demands of our customers. The installation of the UK’s largest EV charging facility will not only attract more visitors to our centres at a time when we are expecting to see a significant increase in electric vehicles on the roads, but also shows our continued commitment to tackling climate change, as we continue our journey towards becoming net positive by 2030. Combined with our renewable electricity contracts, this service has the potential to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of visitors to Brent Cross by supporting the transition to electric vehicles.
The fast chargers take 1-2 hours to fully charge a car battery, providing ample time for customers to enjoy the many retail and leisure offerings available at Brent Cross and complements the average time taken for a visit, which, prior to the pandemic, averaged at 95 minutes.(1)
In addition to benefiting existing customers visiting the centre, the facility will also provide much sought-after charging points for cars passing by on the nearby M1, A41 and A406 via the North Circular, with c. 80 million cars passing through Brent Cross’ interchange every year(2).
Sales of electric vehicles dramatically increased last year and accounted for more than one in 10 of all cars sold in the UK in 2020(3), and with UK government planning to ban the sale of all non-zero emission cars by 2030, this figure is only set to increase.
Deputy Fund Manager for the Aberdeen Standard UK Shopping Centre Trust, Niall Macdonald, said:Aberdeen Standard Investment’s ESG approach is focused on four key forces for change: Environment and climate, governance and engagement, demographics and technology and infrastructure. Electric Vehicle charging is a key component of our approach as we ensure our property portfolios are future proof and allow us to facilitate the decarbonisation of the economy to meet the 2050 net-zero carbon targets. The scale of this installation of electric vehicle charging points at Brent Cross is our most ambitious to date and we believe it will provide a fantastic service to our customers allowing them to make the change to EV confident in the knowledge that this facility is available to them.
This project is consistent with Hammerson’s ambitious target to be Net Positive for carbon emissions, water, resource use and socio-economic impacts by 2030. 22,000 fewer tonnes of carbon were emitted from Hammerson’s business activities in 2020 v 2015, a reduction of 72% and the equivalent of taking an estimated 13,000 cars off the road each year.(4)
In facilitating lower emissions for shopping centre visitors, these charging points will further act to reduce the company’s environmental impacts, with Brent Cross set to be Hammerson’s ninth destination to offer charging points.
Managing Director of Franklin Energy, Rob Byrne, added:We look forward to working with Hammerson and Aberdeen Standard Investments to install a new rapid and fast charging hub in anticipation of the mass adoption of EVs amongst the large customer base of Brent Cross Shopping Centre and more widely in the UK. It is a great initiative that reflects the forward-thinking views of Brent Cross’ major stakeholders, and we can’t wait to begin the installation process.
- Source 1: Javelin, 2019
- Source 2: This figure refers to pre-pandemic levels
- Source 3: Autocar market analysis, link available here
- Source 4: Assuming 13,000 km p.a. and 128g CO2/km
This article was originally published by Hammerson.
