The largest charging hub in Europe will be in Oxford
A UK-based consortium will open Europe's most powerful electric vehicle charging station in Oxford by the end of the year. Infrastructure company Pivot Power and Oxford City Council will work in synergy with Fastned, Tesla and supplier Wenea to deliver 38 fast and ultra-fast charging stations to Redbridge Park and Ride.The chargers will be powered up to 10 MW, unlike other UK hubs, directly from the national grid. With this premise the future Energy Superhub Oxford (ESO) will be the most powerful charging site in all of Europe, according to Pivot Power.
The station will initially be equipped with ten chargers supplied by Fastned and, during the year, 28 more will arrive from Wenea and Tesla. The first ten chargers, 300 kW, will provide up to 450 km of range in about 20 minutes (to all compatible vehicles). The remaining charging systems will have a nominal power of 7-22 kW, therefore compatible with most electric vehicles, and of 250 kW. The latter will be supplied directly by Tesla, so it is legitimate to wait for the classic Supercharger columns we have all become accustomed to.
The installation in Oxford is not too surprising, after the United Kingdom had announced that it would wanting to ban combustion vehicles and create the first zero-emission zone (nicknamed ZEZ). Energy Superhub Oxford (ESO) will be the first of more than 40 sites planned by Pivot Power and expected across the UK. The switch is necessary to ensure proper power supply to the 36 million electric vehicles expected in England by 2040. Other locations considered for the Superhub include Coventry, Birmingham and Manchester.
Pivot Power chief Matt Allen said the company's goal is to help the UK and thereby support the transition to electric vehicles and renewable energy. Oxford is only the first site to be created, once the plan is completed a combined power of almost 2 GigaWatts is expected to be supplied directly by the national grid.
It is unclear whether the facility will also include solar panels capable of storing electricity. and therefore limit the request to the national system. A similar solution has been implemented in the Kreuz Hilden plant, in Germany, which currently represents the most powerful hub in Europe with over 50 stalls of various kinds.