VW And Retail Giant Tesco Building Massive EV Network In UK

If you live in the UK and you suffer from “range anxiety”, then you might take comfort in knowing that plans are in motion for the development of a new EV charging network.

The network is being co-developed by Volkswagen and Britain’s biggest retailer, Tesco. This partnership should result in over 2,400 electric vehicle charging bays being built, across 600 Tesco stores within the next three years, reports Automotive News Europe.

These charging bays will be installed by a company called Pod Point, which has already installed over 2,500 publicly available stations at multiple locations such as retailers, service stations and transport hubs. According to them, this deal between VW and Tesco will lead to a 14% increase in the number of public charging stations in the UK.

Once the project is complete, customers will be able to charge their EVs using a normal 7 kW charger for free or a rapid 50 kW charger for a cost (said to be in line with the market rate).

While electric vehicles and other, alternatively-fueled cars account for only 6% of car sales in Britain, this is actually the fastest growing part of the market, having gone up 22% so far this year alone – thanks in part to government support.

VW is looking to sell one million electric cars every year worldwide by 2025, and already sells fully-electric versions of its Golf and Up! models. Next year, the automaker’s family of I.D. all-electric models is also being rolled out, spearheaded by the I.D. hatchback.