Familiar London taxi chargepoint wins award as UK’s best EV charging destination

Image credit: bp Chargemaster

bp’s flagship UK retail site has been recognised as the country’s best place to charge an electric vehicle by winning ‘Charging Destination of the Year’ at the inaugural Electric Vehicle Innovation and Excellence Awards.

The site, a favourite amongst many of the 3,500 electric black taxis in the capital plying for hire, featuring four 150kW ultra-fast chargers operated on bp Chargemaster’s Polar network, as well as one 50kW rapid charger. bp’s Hammersmith Flyover site is the only ultra-fast public charging hub in London, serving everyone from taxi drivers to Tesla owners. The award comes as bp Chargemaster switches on its 51st 150kW charger, giving it the UK’s largest ultra-fast public charging network.

The UK flagship retail site, is operational 24-hours of the day and facilities on a 4,000 square metre site including an M&S Simply Food store, a Wild Bean Café offering coffee and hot food-to-go, a seating area with 3-pin and USB power outlets, free Wi-Fi, toilets, disabled facilities and a free-to-use cash machine. Outside the store, facilities include jet wash bays and two automated car washes in addition to our ultra-fast public charging hub.

Matteo de Renzi, CEO of bp Chargemaster, said: “We are incredibly proud to be operating the UK’s largest ultra-fast public charging network and this award validates our strategy of combining easy, reliable and fast charging with great convenience. We believe that bp Hammersmith Flyover is the most-visited public charging destination in the UK, recently charging an average of 115 vehicles each day with more than 2,000 kWh of energy.

“Ultra-fast charging is the new frontier of public charging, with even the latest generation of small electric cars offering 100kW charging speeds, and it is as important to private motorists without off-street parking, as it is to professional drivers with higher mileage requirements, such as taxi and private hire drivers.”

Dave Newton, Managing Director UK Fuels at bp, said: “Being recognised as the Charging Destination of the Year is a great accolade, not just for bp Hammersmith Flyover, but for our strategy of combining ultra-fast charging with our market-leading retail business.

“We are transforming the experience of EV charging, helping our customers to reduce their own emissions, and helping to deliver bp’s own net zero ambition.”