Nissan opens new UK electric truck charging hub

Nissan's plant in Sunderland, UK, has just unveiled a £1.4m charging station for electric trucks and heavy goods vehicles (eHGVs). It's said to be the first onsite private shared charging station of its kind in the UK.

The new charging hub features seven charging stations which Nissan states can charge up to 10 eHGVs simultaneously, although it is not clear how many charging ports each tower has. Presumably, some of them have two charging connectors, but this hasn’t been confirmed. However, it has been confirmed that the hub has charging capacities of up to 360kW and will be used to support a total of 25 trucks. These trucks are used by Nissan to collect parts across the UK for its on-site facility, as well as to deliver finished vehicles to and from the Tyne port. Nissan estimates it will support up to 60 daily deliveries via eHGVs.

It’s been delivered in partnership with a number of Nissan’s haulage partners, including Fergusons, Yusen and BCA, and has been led by Gridserve under the Electric Freightway project. This is a consortium of logistics firms which aims to electrify freight through the deployment of eHGVs and high-powered charging infrastructure.

Michael Simpson, VP of Supply Chain Management at Nissan AMIEO, said: “It is fantastic for our plant to be leading the charge to an electrified supply chain with this project. We welcome the support we’ve received from our partners to bring the charging station to life and we’re proud of what we achieved. The charging station looks brilliant and is a big step forward in Nissan’s EV360 vision, which brings together electric vehicles, zero carbon energy, and battery manufacturing.” He added: “We’re exploring further opportunities to allow other hauliers to use the charging station as well as looking at other opportunities to maximise its full potential.”

The Electric Freightway project is being funded as part of the Zero Emission HGV and Infrastructure Demonstrator programme, which is UK-government funded in partnership with Innovate UK. The Minister for the Future of Roads, Lilian Greenwood, said: “We’re working closely with the road freight sector to slash transport emissions, and our £200m zero emission HGV programme is helping businesses across the country to power the electrification of its fleets.”

Daniel Kunkel, CEO of Gridserve, added: “Depot charging is critical for the electrification of HGVs, going hand in hand with future public infrastructure developments. As a first shared usage site, this location is leading the way in sustainable freight logistics.”

nissannews.com