The installation at the supermarket chain's store on the remote Scottish island of Orkney, is the culmination of a programme which has seen more than 2,500 EV charging bays installed at 600 Tesco stores across the UK over the last three years – with all electricity used to charge cars generated from renewable sources. The network also includes 129 rapid chargers.
Since Tesco, Volkswagen and Pod Point launched the network in 2019, the charging points have provided 43,218kWh of energy to date - which Tesco says is enough to power more than 4,000 homes for a whole day.
According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, at the end of February 2023 there were 693,307 battery-electric cars in the UK, an increase of 610% on the number of BEVs in 2019.
Tesco has worked with Volkswagen and Pod Point to build what it says is the largest retail electric vehicle charging network in the UK, giving EV drivers a place to top up their cars while doing their shopping.
Jason Tarry, Tesco UK CEO, said: “Hitting our target of 600 stores with EV charging is a great milestone – and our work doesn’t stop there, as we’re now installing our first 75kW rapid chargers too.”
Owners of electric cars made by any EV manufacturer can use the charging points. Drivers need to download the Pod Point app, plug in the charger and confirm their charge.
The 600th store milestone also coincides with the next phase of the Tesco EV charging network with Pod Point installing the retailers’ first set of 75kW charging units, on a trial basis, to complement the existing 7kW, 22kW and 50kW units across the Tesco estate.
