Ionity opens the UK’s FIRST 350kW chargers for electric cars

Ionity has opened the UK’s first ultra-rapid charging station for electric cars in Maidstone, delivering charge rates of up to 350kW.

It’s all about the infrastructure if car makers and governments are going to drive us all in to electric cars, so the arrival of the first electric car charging points delivering up to 350kW charging is a big deal.

It’s a big deal even though, at the moment, there isn’t a single electric car on the road which can take such a high charge rate, although that will change soon with the arrival of the Porsche Taycan.

Fortunately, the new Ionity rapid charge station, which has just opened in Maidstone, will also deliver lower charge rates, so even the Audi E-tron can charge at its maximum 150kW rate – the fastest of any car currently on the road.

Ionity – backed by industry giants like BMW, VW, Mercedes and Ford – is planning to build more than 40 350kW charging stations in the UK, with the next in line to be in Milton Keynes and Gretna Green, is using electricity supplied by Octopus Energy and is 100 per cent renewable.

The Maidstone site is just a first step, and until electric car makers manage to deliver cars capable of taking 350kW as standard it won’t make much difference to anyone other than a Porsche Taycan driver.

But with charging times in low minutes instead of hours, this is the future for EV charging away from home.