Blue Diamond garden centres across the UK will soon have electric vehicle chargers, courtesy of Mer, the charging provider owned by Norwegian renewable energy group Statkraft.
The UK is seeing a massive expansion of its electric vehicle charging infrastructure, with the UK Government promising explosive growth over the next few years. This is why we’re seeing new installations pop up in all sorts of places, with Blue Diamond the latest business looking to install chargers.
Mer is set to install over 300 EV charge points at 39 of Blue Diamond’s garden centres, all of which will be supplied with 100% renewable energy. While it hasn’t been confirmed exactly what chargers will be installed, Mer has noted that it will be offering charge points capable of delivering between 7kW and 250kW of power.
Most Blue Diamond locations will have four to six bays of flexed rapid charging, from a minimum of 50kW up to 150kW, depending on the number of bays in use. Unlike some retail destinations, customers charging their electric vehicles will not incur costs for overstaying.
“Having Mer charge points at Blue Diamond’s garden centres is great news for its EV driving customers and the environment,” said Anthony Hinde, Mer UK – public charging Managing Director.
“EV drivers can choose a renewable source of energy to charge their vehicles as they shop. So they are making the planet greener at the same time as their gardens.” To date, Mer charge points have saved 145,335 KG of CO2 across Europe.
As the second largest garden centre retailer in the UK, Blue Diamond has sites across the whole country. The retailer has implemented measures to help reduce its carbon footprint, such as banning single-use plastics, looking for peat-free alternatives in their compost and bringing its own range of products to market that are non-harmful to the environment.
“We are delighted to be working with Mer to provide sustainable EV charging on all of our sites across the Blue Diamond group over the next year,” said Alan Roper, Managing Director of Blue Diamond Group.
“We are continuously searching for new ways to enhance the experience of our customers and Mer was an excellent fit for our ethos on the installation of charging stations in our car parks – thanks to the supply of 100% green energy to all chargers and a flexible charging option for our customers to use whilst visiting our centres.”