Community electric vehicle charging hub opens

The first of the two planned electric vehicle (EV) community charging hubs in Milton Keynes is now operational.

The hub, which is located in at Saxon Gate, is part of the Milton Keynes Go Ultra Low City Scheme (GULCS), created using funding from the UK Government’s Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV).

The GULCS has already created the Electric Vehicle Experience Centre, which is located within The Centre MK. The Saxon Gate Community Hub has been designed to provide facilities for EV owners and business users who do not have dedicated off-street parking.

It provides three 7kW charge posts aligned to provide six parking bays where vehicles can be charged over several hours, the hub also provides three new 50kW rapid chargers, each with its own parking bay where users can charge a vehicle more quickly.

All the charge posts at the hub are provided by BP Pulse.

The Saxon Gate Community Hub will also host an electric vehicle car club operated by Enterprise Car Club with five new Nissan Leafs.

The car club will provide EVs that can be rented by the hour or day, with 24/7 access 365 days of the year.

Members can see the live state of charge and mileage range on every Enterprise Car Club electric vehicle when they book on the website.

Users who sign up to become a member of Enterprise Car Club in Milton Keynes will also have access to more than 1,400 vehicles located in 180 towns, cities and communities across the UK.

Dan Gursel, managing director of Enterprise Car Club, said: “The hub boosts access to shared electric vehicles when people need to use a car or for people who want to switch to electric motoring without buying a vehicle.

“Car clubs can help to facilitate the transition to zero-emission motoring and enable more people to try electric vehicles and become more familiar with how they work.

“They allow people to pay only when they need to use a vehicle, and to try an electric vehicle before they buy one.”

Early in 2022, there will also be the opportunity to experience wireless charging, which avoids the need to handle cables as in conventional plug-in charging.

A car will be fitted with wireless charging equipment and a wireless charging point will be set up at the community hubs. Full information will be made available to prospective drivers about wireless charging prior to the demonstrations via the council’s website.

The hubs are being delivered for Milton Keynes Council, by an eFIS led consortium which includes BP Pulse, Enterprise Car Club, University of Warwick and Arup, with funding from the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles.

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