Motor Fuel Group releases 2023 high-power charger budget
British petrol station operator Motor Fuel Group (MFG) has slated £50 million this year to build new ultra-rapid charging hubs for electric cars. The investment will help MFG and partners install 360 HPC columns in 2023, thus more than doubling the number of available chargers today.
To date, MFG has 54 HPC hubs in operation with 271 charging points. The refreshed investment will create new hubs at MFG pit stops with four to eight 150 kW charging points each, supplemented by chargers with over 300 kW capacity. 31 hubs with 175 chargers are currently under construction, according to the announcement. MFG adds that in January 2023 alone, they started construction of twelve such charging parks, which is more in one month than in the entire Q1 2022.
Still, the plans have been in the making for some time. The company announced an electrification advance in March 2022, budgeting 400 million pounds (€464 mn) to finance 2,800 high-power EV chargers with 150 kW and 350 kW power at 500 sites until 2030. 20 per cent of the sum was invested in the basic preliminary work and the first charging parks in 2021 and 2022. With the announced 50 million pounds this year, about one third of the total budget will be planned by the end of 2023.
MFG operates over 900 forecourt stations across the UK, making it one of the biggest providers in the country.
While not mentioned in today’s release, Swarco (formerly eVolt) is reportedly on-board to support MFG as a technology partner, assisting with the deployment of charging hardware and back-office software. Unlike some pit stop operators who only act as a site provider, MFG acts as a charge point operator itself yet under a “dual fuel” strategy, of course.
“Our ambition was to invest ahead of the curve and give drivers who were contemplating purchasing an electric vehicle the confidence that they could travel as easily as with a petrol or hybrid vehicle,” said William Bannister, CEO MFG. “Although we have a way to go to achieve this, our investment in 2022 has set us on a positive trajectory. We have set ourselves another ambitious target for openings in 2023, with the plan to energise 360 chargers whilst delivering the best experience possible for our customers.”
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