EV charging network Ionity, backed by BMW, Daimler, Ford and the VW Group, has partnered with Extra MSA Group to expand its network of fast chargers at motorway service stations across the UK.
Up to six 350kW fast chargers will be installed at eight Extra’s motorway service areas, starting this year with the company’s £60m Skelton Lake, Leeds facility on the M1 motorway.
The scheme will later take in Extra’s services at Cobham, Cambridge, Beaconsfield, Cullompton, Blackburn, Baldock and Peterborough.
Ionity says its 350kW fast chargers, first deployed in the UK last month in Kent, are capable of charging vehicles in less than 20 minutes, although no mass production EV is yet capable of charging at this speed.
Audi’s new E-tron electric SUV is currently the fastest charging EV on the market, at 150kW. The new Porsche Taycan, launching next year, will be the first production electric car capable of a 350kW charge rate.
The company said: “Due to their 350kW capacity and the strategic positioning of its stations, Ionity’s network will make EV travel across the UK and Europe a truly hassle-free experience.”
The network aims to have opened 40 fast charging stations across the UK and 2400 charging points across Europe by the end of 2020.
Recently, Tesla unveiled a new generation of its Supercharger EV charging point, promising charge rates of 1000 miles or range per hour, and 75 miles in five minutes. The highest-speed superchargers will only be compatible with certain versions of the Tesla Model 3.
BP Chargemaster, the UK’s biggest provider of EV infrastructure, is planning to install 400 points capable of ultra-fast 150kW charging (the current maximum speed) across the UK by 2021.