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Power vacuum: road to fast charging at UK services has been ‘laboriously slow’
(www.theguardian.com)
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The need for fast charging will soon be the key reason for visits to motorway services, says Ken McMeikan, chief executive of Moto, which operates them.
They are part of the UK’s cultural fabric, a staple of long weekends and summer holidays, and a rare example of places where people of all classes mix.
Compare that with the £40m total investment made in Rugby (the UK’s most popular services, according to one poll, with 40 ultra-rapid chargers now installed), or Moto’s £38m in annual profits (on turnover of £1.1bn in 2022).
The data company Zapmap said there are 136 motorway service locations which have charging points, with 912 open access devices with power ratings above 50 kilowatts (kW).
Melanie Shufflebotham, chief operating officer at ZapMap, said: “Whilst it is clear that the target of having six or more high-powered 150kW+ devices at all motorway service stations will not be achieved by the end of 2023, there has been significant progress and we should see the rollout speed up as the money in the rapid charging fund is unlocked.
“What I think has been missing is a central, strategic and fast decision-making process,” McMeikan said, adding that he was concerned that money to help install more chargers by motorways could be redirected if the launch is delayed further.
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