UK sustainable energy company GridServe has partnered with Cornwall Services to install an Electric Super Hub in the heart of the popular tourist destination, which includes a solar canopy and a huge battery to support the grid supply to a dozen EV chargers.
The 12-bay flagship Electric Super Hub is located at a busy rest stop on a major road running from London to Land's End, effectively replacing and upgrading two existing 50-kW chargers.
Drivers of electric vehicles who are quickly passing through are treated to six 350-kW fast chargers, with the remainder hosting 22-kW AC chargers for use by those staying overnight at the onsite Holiday Inn hotel. The Super Hub is topped by a solar canopy which provides the plugged-in EVs with shelter while feeding energy into the system to support the 100-kW grid connection.
Naturally this won't be enough to meet all of the facility's power needs, so there's a 1-MW SEC 1000 Li-ion battery as well that draws from the grid during periods of low demand and pushes out its stored energy to the chargers when needed. GridServe has also applied for permission to build a megawatt solar farm next door.
The Electric Super Hub has actually been in a test phase for the last few months, topping up more than 100 EVs per day at peak times, but the company reports that it's now officially open for business – though the fast-chargers are being throttled back for the moment while further testing and optimization is undertaken. Once that's completed, drivers will be able to take advantage of 350-kW fast charging.
"We are delighted to deliver a UK first innovation to Cornwall Services and its customers," said GridServe CEO, Toddington Harper. "We hope the innovative technology we have deployed at this location can also become a blueprint for others, where larger grid connections will be too slow to deliver to keep up with the demand that the rapid transition to electric vehicles presents. We have also submitted plans to further increase energy capacity at the site in future with an adjacent solar farm, which will allow us to deliver up to 4 million zero carbon miles energy directly into electric vehicles every year."
Source: GridServe
