Friday 25 January 2013

Chargemaster joins national network of charge points

GreenCarWebsite reports: Chargemaster joins national network of charge points.

The two leading players in the field of electric vehicles (EVs) infrastructure are to join forces to accelerate the development of a national network of public charging posts.

Chargemaster, which recently bought out rival firm, Elektromotive (Note: the company that employes my services) will partner with Charge Your Car - the North East’s Plugged in Places scheme and the largest regional network of EV charging points in the UK (Note: our joint venture network services company).

Along with partner company, Zero Carbon Futures, the Charge Your Car network now plans to work with Luton -based Chargemaster to structure a mutually beneficial business model for existing customers of both firms.

That will mean that electric car drivers which use the Charge Your Car network will eventually be able to use all Chargemaster public charging points through the network’s operating platform, to simplify payment process and broaden the network.

Likewise Chargemaster customers will be able to use Charge Your Car points in addition to those operated by the company’s own Polar network: the largest recharging network in the UK. Polar customers currently have access to around 1,500 charging points across the country.

The strength of the Charge Your Car network is its newly developed pay-as-you-go (PAYG)  system which connects EV drivers to charge points throughout the UK without the need for multiple membership schemes.

Dr Colin Herron, director of Charge Your Car Ltd, said: “This is a strong partnership bringing together three organisations with natural synergies that are all working towards the goal of the widespread roll-out of EV charging infrastructure. Combined, we will have a network consisting of 70 per cent of all charge points in the UK and through this partnership we will help promote ease of use for EV drivers.”

David Martell, Chief Executive of Chargemaster Plc commented: “This is great news for EV car buyers in the UK. The country now has a coherent network of charging points across the country and we expect this to be a major boost to the growth of low carbon motoring across the UK. The partnership is not only a good example of how the private sector can partner the public sector to serve the country’s needs but is a demonstration on how the UK is leading much of the rest of the world in providing support to the widespread adoption of EVs.”

Charge Your Car has been operating in North East England since 2010, installing a network of charge points for the region. Following an announcement last year, the company entered into an agreement with Elektromotive to fast track the development of its service and expand from a regional to a national network, with a goal of enrolling over 10,000 charge points under one infrastructure service.