First Bus announces industry-first consumer Electric Vehicle charging hub at Summercourt, Cornwall
- First Bus becomes UK’s first bus operator to offer a consumer charging hub to help local Cornish community make switch to electric vehicles (EVs).
- The new purpose-built site in Cornwall will be ready for customers later this summer.
- Site provides 8 rapid charging points for public EVs that will fully charge a family car in under 30 minutes.
- New facility is ideally placed on key tourist route into Cornwall.
To mark Clean Air Day 2023 (June 15), First Bus South is delighted to announce investment in a new purpose-built consumer EV charging hub at its Summercourt depot in Cornwall.
In a first-of-its-kind move for the bus industry, the new Summercourt hub will see one of the UK’s largest bus operators provide the local community with direct access to rapid electric charging infrastructure for electric cars and vans.
The new ‘turn up and charge’ hub will offer eight rapid charging facilities available on a pay-as-you-go basis.
The hub will provide the local area with key electrical charging infrastructure, creating a charging site for the community to use for years to come, and the hope is it will also help more people make the switch to electric to improve local air quality.
The site is easily accessible in a key location near the main A30 tourist route into Cornwall, helping ease holiday makers’ EV range anxiety as they travel through the county.
The chargers will also be available for local businesses to use following the successful pilot of B2B charging provision by First Bus in Glasgow and Leicester, where companies such as DPD and Police Scotland benefit from the use of the operator’s infrastructure for their EV fleets.
The Summercourt charging hub is the next step in the company’s decarbonisation strategy and aligns with its mission to operate a fully zero emission fleet by 2035 and marks a huge leap forward for its customers, colleagues and the local environment.
Preparations and works are underway on site and it is anticipated that the hub will be fully operational and open to the public later this summer, and with rapid chargers available, consumers can fully charge their cars in under 30 mins.
First Bus South Managing Director Simon Goff said: “We’re proud to be leading the way with this first of its kind offering for consumer electric charging at our depot. We want to help the communities we serve with their own transition to green transport solutions.
“We’re not doing this because of rules, or regulations, but because we believe it’s the right thing to do. This represents a significant investment, and futureproofing our business at sites like Summercourt, is another step in our journey as we look to transition to zero emission buses over the coming years.”
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Notes to editors
For more information, please contact:
Ellie Irwin PR Manager, First Bus South
Email: ellie.irwin@firstbus.co.uk
Mobile: 07974 864673
NOTES TO EDITORS
Key Stats:
- 8 x 75kWh rapid DC Heliox chargers, which can fully charge a family-sized car in under 30 mins.
- Further demonstrating First Bus’ commitment, power at the site is already partially provided by solar panels, which were installed earlier this year. Power delivered to site is also 100% renewable.
- First Bus have planning applications in for 17 additional First Bus sites around the UK that will be fitted with electric charging infrastructure in preparation for a future switch to a fully Zero Emission Bus fleet by 2035 by one of the UK’s largest bus operators.
- Over 600 buses, (15%) of UK fleet will be Zero Emission Buses from March 2024.
- Over £100m invested in sustainability projects over the past 18 months.
About First Bus
First Bus is one of the UK’s largest bus operators. Making journeys easier for our customers, we were the first national bus operator to accept contactless card payments across all of our services and our First Bus App is voted ‘best in class’ amongst UK bus operators.
Our most recent investments are in new, state-of-the-art buses across our key networks. We work proactively with our local authority partners, making a positive impact on air quality, tackling congestion and improving customer experience.
We are focused on First Bus becoming a leader in the transition to a low-carbon future and are committed to operating a zero-emission bus fleet by 2035; we have pledged not to purchase any new diesel buses after December 2022. We also operate the Aircoach network in Ireland.
First Bus is a division of FirstGroup.
Find more information on First Bus South here