Osprey Charging has opened its first high-powered EV charging hub in London after starting its rollout of 150 hubs across the UK.
The hub is located in Purley Cross Retail Park, adjacent to a number of retail outlets including Starbucks, Aldi and Smyths Toys, allowing drivers to charge their cars while they shop. The hub supports major transport routes into the city and 18,500 cars pass it every day.
The hub has six Tritium chargers: four 75kW points and two that can charge at up to 175KW, capable of adding 100 miles of charge in just 10 minutes.
Ian Johnson, CEO of Osprey Charging said: “London drew a line in the sand with the expansion of the ULEZ zone in the city, sending a clear message to Londoners to rapidly switch to cleaner modes of transport. Our new hub in Croydon – one of the most powerful of its kind in the city – will give current and future EV drivers in London access to reliable and convenient charging.”
“Our nationwide hubs roll-out will see large-scale charging infrastructure deployed rapidly, at the scale required to serve the mass market of EV drivers hitting Britain’s roads in the coming years.”
Osprey Charging also today announced a partnership with Bonnet to open up EV charging to drivers across London. From the new year, EV drivers using the Bonnet app will be able to access and pay for charging on Osprey’s charging network.
This is particularly beneficial for the growing number of EV taxi drivers. There are now more than 3,750 electric taxis on London’s roads and this figure is set to rapidly increase as the city’s largest taxi and private hire company, Addison Lee, announced plans to go fully electric by 2023.
Simon Fleming, local EV taxi driver, said: “Switching my taxi to an EV has been a game-changer – I’ve managed to significantly cut running costs, reduce my impact on air pollution and the improved overall driving experience has been a revelation.”
“Osprey’s new hub is excellent news for EV drivers in London, providing the essential public infrastructure needed to give drivers the confidence to go electric, today.”
Patrick Reich, co-founder and CEO of Bonnet, said: “It’s an exciting time to be partnering with Osprey. One of the key stumbling blocks to EV adoption is the lack of public rapid charger availability and confusion around how to use different public charging networks. This partnership offers Osprey’s state-of-the-art rapid charging experience through the Bonnet app, which simplifies membership, payments and gives drivers real-time chargepoint info straight from the operator.”
In September Osprey Charging revealed a £75m plan to develop 150 charging hubs over the next four years. More than 10 hubs are in construction, and the first of the programme opened in Wolverhampton last month.
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