Currently the hub has 42 chargepoints but, with 10MW of installed capacity on site, Oxford City Council says the Redbridge facility has the capacity to scale up with EV adoption to provide charging for 400 vehicles (assuming 350 cars charging at 7kW and 50 cars charging at 150kW).
In July this year, the city council approved the Oxford EV Infrastructure Strategy to support EV charging across the city. The council says the Redbridge hub is a key element in implementing that strategy and currently provides 9% of the rapid charging infrastructure needed to support full EV migration by 2040.
The overall costs of the whole Energy Superhub Oxford project are £41m, and it received £11.3m of grant funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
The charging hub was mainly financed via private investment. The chargepoint providers, Fastned, Tesla and Wenea financed their equipment and the solar canopy. Oxford City Council used some grant funding for project management resource and to provide some high voltage to low voltage infrastructure. Some grant funding was used by the lead project partner EDF Renewables UK (previously Pivot Power) to construct the four-mile private wire and terminating substation at Redbridge P&R.
The council says that, unlike any other UK charging hub, the site is directly connected to National Grid’s high voltage transmission network via a four-mile underground cable. A new onsite substation was installed to provide each of the three charge point operators with their connection to EDF Renewables UK’s private wire network, bringing power from the high-voltage transmission system. The substation has a capacity of 10MW that can be split between the operators.
"The hub is being well utilised and usage is increasing each month," a council spokesperson said. "In July this year, the council approved the Oxford EV Infrastructure Strategy to deliver fair and equitable EV charging for all who live, work and visit Oxford and to help meet the city’s aim of being a Zero Carbon Oxford by 2040. In 2022 the Council delivered 42 new charging points at the Energy Superhub Oxford located at the Redbridge Park & Ride as well as a number of rapid and fast chargers for electric taxis around the city. The Council will continue to install EV charging infrastructure in line with its EV strategy."
