First Bus announces industry-first consumer Electric Vehicle charging hub at Summercourt
- First Bus becomes UK’s first bus operator to offer a consumer charging hub to help local community make switch to electric vehicles.
- The new purpose-built site in Cornwall will be ready for customers later this summer.
- Site provides eight rapid charging points for public EVs that will fully charge a family car in under 30 minutes.
- New facility is ideally placed on key tourist route into Cornwall.
To mark Clean Air Day 2023 (June 15), First Bus is delighted to announce investment in a new purpose-built consumer Electric Vehicle (EVs) charging hub at its Summercourt depot in Cornwall.
In a first-of-its-kind move for the bus industry, the new Summercourt hub will see one of the UK’s largest bus operators provide the local community with direct access to rapid electric charging infrastructure for electric cars and vans.
The new ‘turn up and charge’ hub will offer eight rapid charging facilities available on a pay-as-you-go basis.
The hub will provide the local area with key electrical charging infrastructure, creating a charging site for the community to use for years to come, and the hope is it will also help more people make the switch to electric to improve local air quality.
The site is easily accessible in a key location on the main A30 tourist route into Cornwall, helping ease holiday makers’ EV range anxiety as they travel through the county.
The chargers will also be available for local businesses to use following the successful pilot of B2B charging provision by First Bus in Glasgow and Leicester, where companies such as DPD and Police Scotland benefit from the use of the operator’s infrastructure for their EV fleets.
The Summercourt charging hub is the next step in the company’s decarbonisation strategy and aligns with its mission to operate a fully zero emission fleet by 2035 and marks a huge leap forward for its customers, colleagues and the local environment.
Preparation works are now underway on site. It is anticipated that the hub will be fully operational and open to the public later this summer, with eight rapid chargers available, which will fully charge an average-sized family car in under 30 mins.
First Bus UK, Chief Sustainability Officer, Isabel McAllister said: “We’re proud to be leading the way with this industry first for consumer electric charging. We want to help the communities we serve with their own transition to zero emissions transport solutions.
“We believe this is the right thing to do. By futureproofing sites like Summercourt, we are proud to be progressing our net zero journey and investing in a greener future for our local communities.”
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Notes to editors
NOTES TO EDITOR
Key Stats:
- 8 x 75kWh rapid DC chargers, provided and installed by partners Heliox UK, which can fully charge a family-sized car in under 30 mins.
- First Bus have planning applications in for 17 additional First Bus sites around the UK that will be fitted with electric charging infrastructure in preparation for a future switch to a fully Zero Emission Bus fleet by 2035 by one of the UK’s largest bus operators.
- Further demonstrating First Bus’ commitment, power at the site is already partially provided by solar panels, which were installed earlier this year. Power delivered to site is also 100% renewable.
- Over 600 buses, (15%) of UK fleet will be Zero Emission Buses from March 2024.
- Over £100m invested in sustainability projects over the past 18 months.
About First Bus
First Bus is one of the UK’s largest bus operators. Making journeys easier for our customers, we were the first national bus operator to accept contactless card payments across all of our services and our First Bus App is voted ‘best in class’ amongst UK bus operators.
Our most recent investments are in new, state-of-the-art buses across our key networks. We work proactively with our local authority partners, making a positive impact on air quality, tackling congestion and improving customer experience.
We are focused on First Bus becoming a leader in the transition to a low-carbon future and are committed to operating a zero-emission bus fleet by 2035; we have pledged not to purchase any new diesel buses after December 2022. We also operate the Aircoach network in Ireland.
First Bus is a division of FirstGroup.
Find more information on First Bus here: First Bus UK News