BP Chargemaster, the UK’s largest electric car charge point provider, has switched on the first of its new Ultracharge 150kW EV chargers at a London petrol station.
Two charging points are now in operation at BP’s Cranford petrol station near London Heathrow airport – the first in a planned roll-out of 400 ultra-fast charging points by 2021 – including 100 at 50 sites by the end of 2019.
Unveiled in June at Silverstone, the new Ultracharge 150 is the first such unit to be built in the UK, and will allow electric vehicles to charge at their maximum rated speed.
It is claimed the charger will deliver around 100 miles of range in 10 minutes, which approaches the 75 miles per five minutes offered by Tesla’s third-generation Supercharger, revealed in March. The Californian maker’s new unit is capable of splitting 1MW of power between four cars, for a 250kW charging rate per car.
The new Ultracharger 150 features both CCS and Chademo connectors, making it compatible with the majority of EVs on UK roads. Customers can either subscribe to the service for regular use, or pay by the hour.
The chargers will be part of the Polar network, which is made up of more than 6500 public charging points across the UK.
The roll-out will help future-proof the UK’s charging network, as currently very few EVs are capable of charging at 150kW. Audi’s E-tron is one that is, and its 95kWh battery can be charged to 80% in around 30 minutes.
Tufan Erginbilgic – CEO of BP’s product and service-led arm, Downstream – said: “As the world of mobility evolves, BP is determined to be the fuel provider of choice whether drivers need electric charging or liquid fuels.