National Highways is providing the financial backing to put electric vehicle (EV) charging stations where there’s insufficient supply in the national grid.
Ameresco, on behalf of National Highways, will install Energy Storage Systems – essentially giant battery packs – at England’s motorway sites where there is poor national grid connectivity for electric vehicle (EV) drivers.
National Grid has prioritised the following sites:
- Beaconsfield on the M40
- Corley on the M6 Northbound
- Clacket Lane on the M25, both Eastbound and Westbound
- Maidstone on the M20
- Taunton on the M5 Northbound
- Tebay on the M6 Northbound
According to National Highways, the Energy Storage Systems support high-powered chargers with the aim that all motorway service areas will have at least six high-powered, open access chargepoints by the end of 2023.
Malcolm Wilkinson, Head of Energy at National Highways said:
“We are working differently and innovating to support the switch to zero emission journeys. By supporting the expansion of the high-powered chargepoints network, we hope to increase EV drivers’ confidence for all types of journeys, both long and short.
“These new Energy Storage Systems and the high-powered chargers they supply will help ensure that motorists are unlikely to be caught without somewhere to charge.”
Energy Storage Systems consist of grid-scale batteries safely housed in a heated and air conditioned 40ft shipping container, which can support additional high-powered (150kW) electric vehicle chargepoints at motorway service areas.
With a typical storage capacity of 2MWh, the batteries in each system (which will charge overnight when spare electric is available) have enough energy to support over 2 million miles of zero emission motoring each year said Ameresco.
