First Bus has announced plans to build an electric vehicle charging hub exclusively for community use at its Summercourt depot in Cornwall.
Set to open later this summer, the site will provide eight rapid charging points for the public that will fully charge a car in under 30 minutes.
The “turn up and charge” facility, available on a pay-as-you-go basis, will be well located for tourists on the A30 route, while local businesses will also be able to use the provision. The latter move follows pilot trials at First Bus in Glasgow and Leicester, from which DPD and Police Scotland benefited.
The 75kWh DC chargers will be installed by Heliox UK and some of the power will be supplied by solar panels which were installed earlier this year.
First Bus UK, Chief Sustainability Offer, Isabel McAllister says: “We’re proud to be leading the way with this industry first for consumer electric charging. We want to help the communities we serve with their own transition to zero-emission transport solutions.
“We believe this is the right thing to do. By futureproofing sites like Summercourt, we are proud to be progressing our net-zero journey and investing in a greener future for our local communities.”
The operator confirms this facility will be separate to bus operations, although it has plans to electrify the depot in the coming years in preparation for further expansion of its electric fleet.
Isabel adds: “As part of our on-going mission to decarbonise our UK operations, we are progressing planning applications to install electrical infrastructure at more of our sites, including Summercourt, to future-proof our business for the switch to a zero-emission fleet in the not too distant future.
“At this time there are no immediate plans to roll out electric buses at Summercourt Depot, but by installing the necessary infrastructure means it will be a seamless transition when we reach that point.”
First Bus has planning applications for a further 17 of its site around the UK that will be fitted with electric charging infrastructure as part of its plans to move fully to zero-emission vehicle by 2035. It says 600 buses, representing 15% of its fleet will zero-emission by March 2024. It has already invested £100 million in sustainability projects over the last 18 months.
