New electric vehicle charging hub set for NEC

The project's been given planning permission.

Author: Matt MaddrenPublished 18th May 2022
Last updated 18th May 2022

The NEC Group and their partner, The EV Network, have been given planning approval for a major electric vehicle charging hub on the NEC Campus in the West Midlands.

Once completed, it will be one of the largest EV charging hubs in Europe in terms of number of charge points on one site.

It's set to go live from this Autumn.

The hub will contain ultra-fast 300KW DC chargers capable of charging 32 electric vehicles at any one time.

Served by 16 high speed DC chargers, each will be able to fully-charge a vehicle in 15-30 minutes, plus a solar canopy will help to generate electricity for the hub.

The hub will also be accessed via a new entrance from the main Campus through road, just off junction 6 of the M42 and close to the M6.

It will also accommodate a further 150 points for 7KW AC-charging.

These will be used by NEC Birmingham customers during their time at the venue, which welcomes over seven million visitors per year.

Paul Thandi CBE, CEO of NEC Group, said:

“As the UK’s leading live events business, we also want to be a leader in sustainable practices. Creating an EV charging hub of this scale is a step change for the UK’s green travel strategy.

"We know that many electric vehicle drivers suffer from range anxiety and that this is a barrier to others switching to greener modes of transport. Providing greater reliability and access to high quality charge points in partnership with bp pulse at a key part of the UK road network, is a great move forward and one we are proud to support.”

Trudy Harrison, Transport Minister, said:

"Our Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy sets out our vision to boost on-street charge points across the nation, and it's excellent to see NEC Birmingham joining the important transition to greener vehicles.

"We've supported the installation of over 30,000 public EV charge points up and down the UK, and it's great that the UK's largest events organisation is also accommodating for present and future EV drivers.”

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