Publication date: 30 September 2022
St Mary’s Retail Park in Rochdale
St Mary’s Retail Park in Rochdale is the first site in Greater Manchester to be chosen for a powerful new type of electric vehicle (EV) charging hub, offering ‘ultra-fast’ charging to the borough’s growing number of EV drivers.
Landlord Glenbrook Investments is working with Be.EV, the public electric vehicle charging network for the North, to offer public electric vehicle charging at its Rochdale retail park, where Dunelm and Carpet Right are tenants.
With two dedicated power banks that deliver over a megawatt of power across eight charging bays, each bay can deliver 100 miles of charge in around 10 minutes (depending on the vehicle), five times faster than the fastest chargers currently available. in Rockdale.
The charging site is expected to become operational in early 2023. Superfasts are the next generation in electric vehicle charging and are key to providing the public charging infrastructure needed to enable a mass transition to electric vehicles. Its fast charging speeds mean a single charger can serve more drivers.
Ultra-fast chargers are still few and far between in the region, which is due to their power requirements. Be.EV is solving this problem by installing two special 550kW power banks from specialist Kempower to deliver up to 150kW per plug.
Richard Rees, Chief Investment Officer at Glenbrook Investments, said: “Hosting electric vehicle public charging at perfectly located sites like St Mary’s Gate benefits both our tenants and the local community. It’s an easy way for homeowners to support the deployment of much-needed sustainable infrastructure. It’s good for Rochdale and fits with our drive to support positive change through our investment process.”
Be.EV will deliver the new chargers and take care of and possibly expand the number over time. The chargers will be accessible to the public and a discounted rate is available to Be.EV members.
Be.EV uses the deployment of its charging centers as an opportunity to improve the public realm and green charger setup as much as possible. Designs for loading bays in existing parking garages include seating and planters alongside generous and accessible bays.
Asif Ghafoor, CEO of Be.EV, commented: “This is the North leveling up. Rochdale deserves and needs great infrastructure, and we all work together to provide it, without a penny of public money and without waiting for help from Westminster. A very progressive TfGM has put us on a mission to nurture and develop its public electric vehicle charging network, by engaging anyone who can and wants to host electric vehicle charging. It allows us to go out and find partners like Glenbrook Investments to help us build a great network for the North faster.
“This is just the first of many new sites we have in the pipeline in and around Rochdale, but it will make a huge difference to existing and aspiring EV drivers in the city.”
