Sustainable energy provider Gridserve has unveiled plans to develop a £100-million EV infrastructure project in the UK. The Gridserve Electric Highway will offer a network of over 50 electric hubs, each with between six and twelve 350 kW chargers. Ten of these hubs are scheduled to go into service this year. The company also plans to install an additional 300 rapid chargers at motorway service stations.

Gridserve recently took over an existing public charging network that was developed by a company called Ecotricity.

“Anyone who’s driving an electric car in the UK will be aware of what was called the Electric Highway,” said Robert Llewellyn, host of the YouTube series Fully Charged. “It was a very brave first step. They were first out of the gate in many ways. They put a charging network across the entire country.”

Unfortunately, Ecotricity wasn’t able to maintain the Electric Highway (several too-early public charging networks around the world have suffered the same fate), but the company laid down a foundation for Gridserve to build upon.

Within six weeks of acquiring the Electric Highway, Gridserve has installed new 60 kW+ chargers at over 50 locations, and is equipping new sites at the rate of around two per day. It plans to replace the entire network of 300 old Ecotricity chargers by September, and to enable every type of EV to charge with contactless payment options.

The company’s first Motorway Electric Hub is a bank of twelve 350 kW Gridserve chargers alongside twelve Tesla Superchargers, which was opened to the public in April at Ruby Services. This will be the blueprint for the company’s future sites.

“Gridserve is eliminating charging anxiety and making driving electric an enjoyable, ultra-convenient and stress-free experience,” said CEO Toddington Harper. “We’re working at a phenomenal pace to roll out cutting-edge charging infrastructure, and will continue to move heaven and earth to install new chargers en masse in as many locations as we can, and as quickly as possible.”

Source: CleanTechnica