Ecotricity is just days away from adding a slew of new EV chargers to its Electric Highway network, all of which boast charging speeds of up to 350 kW.
There are currently just 14 sites across the UK where you can find 350 kW EV chargers, with 13 sites run by Ionity — the charging network founded by BMW Group, Daimler AG, Ford Motor Company and Volkswagen Group.
Thanks to this latest installation from Ecotricity, there will now be a 15th location for 350 kW chargers, located at Rugby services on the M6.
At Rugby, Ecotricity has selected to install 12 new chargers from Tritium, all of which will boast the 350 kW charging speeds. The exact model chosen is the Tritium PK350, which can be upgraded to 475 kW in the future if needs be.
While it’s nice to offer 350 kW speeds, or even the 475 kW that could come in the future, no vehicle in production can take advantage of speeds that fast. In fact, the fastest charging car to have been announced by a manufacturer is the Lucid Air, and that can still only handle charging speeds of up to 300 kW.
Despite this, EV drivers will still be pleased by the new chargers. Ecotricity is regularly criticised for the Electric Highway being unreliable compared with other charging networks. That’s largely because it’s one of the UK’s oldest EV charging networks, but the company is committed to modernisation.
This is the first time the company has selected to install 350 kW chargers, but it’s possible we could see more sites come online in the future. However, not all sites lend themselves to 350 kW chargers. Ionity had to get UK Power Networks involved when it installed new chargers at Cobham.
Ecotricity says that drivers using the Electric Highway will be able to benefit from these new 350 kW chargers on May 1, 2021.