Soon, electric vehicle owners will be able to go to a pub to drink a beer, watch Champions League games and charge their EVs, all at the same time, thanks to a new partnership between Drive Energi and Greene King.
Charging point operator Drive Energi will work with Greene King, which is the country’s leading pub retailer and brewer with more than 2,700 locations, to supply new rapid 50kW DC chargers.
According to company sources Drive Energi aims to energise over 300 locations in just the next 12 months. This initial stage of the plan will see the deployment of the chargers in the North West part of the country.
The two companies have signed a deal that will last till 2040 and they aim to have a wider roll-out of the charging technology already in the next three years.
At all of the locations, contactless payment will be enabled. The Tritium 50kW DC charge points will be powered by renewable energy and available to use via a “pay as you go” tariff, 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year with no subscription required.
This is another clear sign that the country is taking seriously the 2035 ban on internal combustion engines, as a wide and reliable charging infrastructure will be necessary to sustain a smooth transition to electric vehicle technology.
This partnership is welcomed by Tony Hodgson, head of estates at Greene King, as he believes that it could help ease EV drivers’ lives.
“We’ve been working hard developing our sustainability plans as we continue to build a greener business,” he said. “With more people buying electric cars in a bid to be more environmentally friendly, we want to support our customers who come to dine or stay with us by offering electric charging ports in our pubs that are able to do so.”
This is a clever initiative that will allow the spread of charging technology and will certainly help the country to move more effortlessly towards the 2035 ICE ban.
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