BP Chargemaster rolling out 400 150kW electric car chargers

BP Chargemaster are installing 400 ultra fast charging points for electric cars across the UK, with the first 100 installed before the end of 2019.

It’s all very well buying an electric car if you have the facilities to charge it at home. But not everyone has that luxury.

Those without a drive, or living in flats, have to rely on the public charging network and, although it’s expanding, the majority of electric car chargers you can plug in to in car parks and supermarkets deliver just 7kW. Which, if you’ve got a newer EV with a battery up to 100kWh, isn’t going to do much for your range when you pop to the shops.

The answer, for now at least, is to roll out properly quick chargers, offering the sort of charging rate which can deliver a significant charge in the time you wander round the shops, or stop on a motorway for a comfort break.

Ionity is busy rolling out chargers across the UK and Europe which will deliver a charge of up to 350kW, although just about the only car capable of making use of it is the yet to arrive Porsche Taycan.

Now BP Chargemaster is joining the push for properly quick chargers, and although they’re not currently planning to offer 350kW chargers, they are rolling out 150kW chargers across the UK, starting in July.

They say they will install 100 150kW chargers this year at 50 sites across the UK, and 400 in total by 2021. Which means EVs that can make use of the charge rate, like the Audi e-tron, will be able to get a few hundred miles of range top-up in half an hour.