The station in Braintree, Essex, is the first of a £1billion nationwide network of 100 electric forecourts planned over the next five years.
The 2½-acre site has been built with 24 charging points which can replenish the batteries of the latest plug-in models in around 20 to 30 minutes.
There are also six ‘superchargers’ for Tesla vehicles. WHSmith, Costa Coffee and Post Office shops have been built on the site, which is powered by solar energy and battery storage.
Support will be provided by electric vehicle experts from the AA.
Gridserve, the company behind the project, says it wants to make electric vehicle charging as simple as stopping at a petrol stations.
It is planning to build 100 electric forecourts on some of the country’s busiest roads over the next 5 years. The next two are planned for Norwich and Uckfield in East Sussex.
The project has been backed by the Government, which plans to ban sales of new petrol, diesel and hybrid cars by 2035, but this could be brought forward to 2030.
Industry leaders have warned the target is overly ambitious. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders says £17billion of investment is needed to get a charging network ready for the mass electric vehicle market, with more than 500 new charge points needed every day until 2035.
It is calling for tax relief for zero-emission vehicles and a long-term commitment to ‘plug-in grants’ which would reduce the cost of electric cars.
This funding would reduce the price of an electric family car by an average of £5,500, helping to drive 2.4million sales in greener vehicles over the next five years, the organisation said.
Prices for a standard-sized electric car start at about £15,000.
Gridserve founder Toddington Harper said the forecourts ‘will eliminate range and charging anxiety by making it easier and cheaper to charge an electric vehicle than to fuel a petrol or diesel alternative.
‘The UK’s first electric forecourt represents so much more than an electric equivalent of a modern petrol station – it will deliver a fully loaded customer experience, offering the best of British retail and customer service.’
Goldman Sachs says renewable-energy spending will surpass oil and gas for the first time ever in 2021 — and sees total investment spiking to $16 trillion over the next decade
The transition to renewable power from traditional fuels will create a $16 trillion investment opportunity through 2030 as spending shifts to new infrastructure, Goldman Sachs analysts said Tuesday.
The bank projects green-energy spending to pass that of oil and gas for the first time ever next year and account for roughly 25% of all energy spending. The share stood at just 15% in 2014, but a dive in fossil-fuel investing over the past decade shifted more dollars to clean energy initiatives.
If the nation aims to hold global warming within 2 degrees Celsius, the move toward renewable energy would create between $1 trillion and $2 trillion in yearly infrastructure spending, the team led by Michele Della Vigna wrote in a note to clients.
Economic downturns have historically slowed efforts to boost clean energy investing, but Goldman sees the coronavirus downturn bucking that trend and accelerating the nationwide pivot.
“We believe this time will be different, especially for technologies that are now mature enough to be deployed at scale and can benefit from a falling cost of capital and an attractive regulatory framework, unlocking one of the largest infrastructure investment opportunities in history on our estimates,” the team wrote.
The decade-long strategy isn’t without its risks. Goldman warned that low cost of capital and an attractive regulatory framework are “essential” to moving green infrastructure forward. Such projects can be as much as three-times more demanding of capital and jobs compared to traditional energy developments.If either side of the public-private collaboration falters, the transition will slow dramatically, the bank said.
Two-speed de-carbonization also poses a threat to the firm’s outlook. Fiscal and monetary aid will likely boost mainstream clean-energy initiatives like solar and wind power. Yet growing technologies like clean hydrogen and the creation of carbon markets risk being placed on the back-burner.
If the latter efforts can’t gain access to sufficient capital, the long-term plan to slash carbon emissions will stall, Goldman warned.
“This may ultimately delay the technological breakthroughs necessary to flatten the de-carbonization cost curve and achieve cost-efficient net zero carbon,” the team wrote.
