The UK’s fastest EV charger has more power than any electric car can handle

A Park Garages filling station in Blackpool has claimed the title of the UK’s fastest EV public charging station, with a trio of newly installed chargers each capable of pumping out a hefty 480kW of power.

While that’s an impressive stat, there are very few EVs on sale today equipped to accept charge at even close to that rate - the exotic Lotus Eletre can handle 350kW, and the Porsche Taycan 320kW, but quite a few smaller models like the MINI Electric, Nissan Leaf and Dacia Spring are limited to charging at less than 50kW. 

While the majority of EV models are configured to charge at rates spanning a 50kW-250kW range, it’s interesting to see charger outputs on the rise; the Blackpool charge points have twin cables so can usefully provide 240kW each to a pair of vehicles, whereas lower powered units might in some instances have to share out the available kilowatts if two higher-end EV models hook up at once.

That said, as confirmed to us by the UK’s leading EV charger mapping service Zapmap, the new Blackpool chargers are the only publicly accessible chargers in the country that can attain a ‘Hyper Rapid’ label with outputs anywhere over 400kW. However, Zapmap’s figures also show we’re doing quite well with just shy of 6,000 of the less powerful Ultra Rapid public chargers, of which 1,198 are capable of at least 250kW charging - and actually most of these offer 300kW or 350kW. 

It’s a moot point whether there’s much of a case in the short or medium term for more Hyper Rapid units. Zapmap’s co-founder and chief operations officer Melanie Shufflebotham told us that while it was great PR, there wasn’t an immediately obvious commercial reason for a swing towards 400kW+ chargers. 

“While the mass market likes the idea of being able to go up to a charger and fill up just as they would in a petrol station, I don’t think that’s realistic or even really desirable,” she said. “To me, 350kW is more than adequate for most drivers’ needs as most EVs are not yet able to pull charge at that speed - but it depends whether you’re thinking near term or long-term when chargers probably will become more powerful.” 

Understandably, Richard Pink, chief technology officer at Project EV which developed the 480kW chargers for Park Garages, takes a more bullish line. “We recognised the importance of helping them stand out in a competitive market, which is why we developed our new 480kW hyper-speed charger,” he said. “This innovative charger can simultaneously deliver 240kW to two vehicles, ensuring faster, more efficient public charging. Moreover, it’s designed to accommodate the future of electric vehicles with advanced charging capabilities.”

If you want to take advantage of the UK’s fastest charger, you’ll need to find the service station located on Preston Road in Blackpool. We’re told the Park Garage Group had to make a significant investment in a ‘robust supply’ to power its league-table topping chargers on the site, but with 77 filling stations in its portfolio, (27 of which were acquired from the Issa brothers in 2021 following a Competitions and Markets Authority directive when the Issas purchased the Asda Group), you might find a similarly-rated Hyper-Rapid charger at a Park Garages site nearer to you soon.

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