Oxford’s EV Superhub could scale up to 400 vehicles
Oxford City Council and partners have opened what is claimed to be Europe’s most powerful electric vehicle charging hub at the Energy Superhub Oxford.
The charging hub, developed with Pivot Power, Fastned, Tesla Superchargers and Wenea will initially offer simultaneous fast and ultra-rapid charging for 42 vehicles at Oxford’s Redbridge Park and Ride. The hub can scale up with EV adoption to provide charging for 400 vehicles.
The project is part of a nationwide network of Energy Superhubs developed by Pivot Power, which combine transmission-connected batteries and power infrastructure for EV charging to enable more renewables and accelerate the decarbonisation of transport.
Fastned, the European EV rapid charging company, has initially installed ten charging bays at the Superhub with 300 kW of power available, capable of adding 300 miles of range in just 20 minutes for hundreds of EVs per day. Wenea, one of the largest EV charging services providers in Europe, has deployed twenty 7-22 kW charging bays. A further twelve 250 kW Tesla Superchargers will be available for Tesla owners. Work to install Wenea’s EV charging stations was carried out by ODS – a wholly owned subsidiary of Oxford City Council.
The site is directly connected to National Grid’s high voltage transmission network via a four-mile underground cable, which will deliver 10 MW of power to quickly and simultaneously charge hundreds of EVs without putting additional strain on the local electricity network or requiring costly upgrades.
Pivot Power’s network can be expanded to key locations throughout Oxford to decarbonise public and private transport, taxis and commercial fleets.
A substation has already been installed at Oxford Bus Company’s Watlington Road depot, ready to support the company’s plans to introduce over 100 electric buses in the coming two years.
As part of the project, Energy Superhub Oxford has also supported the decarbonisation of the city’s maintenance vehicles, managed by ODS. In total, Energy Superhub Oxford has contributed almost £900,000 towards the procurement of 40 EVs, including cars, vans, road sweepers, tipper trucks and the city’s first all-electric bin lorry.
Oxford City Council says the superhub provides a blueprint for cities around the world to simultaneously scale up green transport, power and heating.
The £41 million urban decarbonisation project delivered by Pivot Power, together with a consortium of global partners and part-funded by the UK government, will unlock significant emissions reductions across power, heat and transport as part of the programme to decarbonise Oxford by 2040.
The project is the first to incorporate Pivot Power’ hybrid battery system which stores renewable energy at times of high supply, providing essential flexibility to the UK’s grid as renewable energy is scaled up.
During periods when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow, the battery will discharge, helping to ensure electricity is secure and reliable throughout the day. This will be essential if the UK is to reach its goals of 50GW of offshore wind and 70GW of solar capacity by the 2030s, as well as fully decarbonising electricity by 2035.
It combines a 2MW/5MWh vanadium flow battery from energy storage leader Invinity Energy Systems with a 50MW/50MWh lithium-ion battery from global technology company Wärtsilä to deliver an innovative energy storage solution that can balance the intermittency of renewable energy. The system will be controlled and managed by Wärtsilä’s GEMS Digital Energy Platform and optimised by Habitat Energy’s AI-enabled battery trading system.
Pivot Power plans to deploy up to 40 Energy Superhubs across the UK, with the next two projects already underway in Coventry and Sandwell, to the northwest of Birmingham. Once complete, the network could provide almost 10% of the energy storage that the UK is predicted to require by 2035.
Councillor Imogen Thomas, Cabinet Member for Zero Carbon Oxford and Climate Justice, Oxford City Council said, “Oxford has a history of being ambitious as we look to adopt new and exciting transport approaches in our city. Redbridge was the location of the country’s first full running Park & Ride in 1973, and now almost 50 years later, we are home to Europe’s most powerful electric vehicle charging hub. In order to achieve a Zero Carbon Oxford by 2040 we need to encourage uptake in electric vehicles, and drivers want to know that they can charge their vehicles quickly and efficiently. The completion of Energy Superhub Oxford is an exciting step for our city and the future of EV charging.”