EV charging infrastructure firm Zest has unveiled a new ultra-rapid EV charging facility in Bolton.
The new facility, located close to Bolton’s ring road, provides 12 charging bays fitted with 160kW chargers on a formerly closed council car park. Zest notes that the company has a track record of regenerating derelict land like this former site to supply communities with accessible EV charging.
Dwayne Lowe, director of planning and highways at Bolton Council, called the installation “a major step in making EV ownership more practical”. Lowe added that access to reliable high-speed charging will help more drivers feel confident in making the switch to electric.
Robin Heap, CEO of Zest, agreed, adding that it is essential that charging infrastructure is “convenient, abundant and integrated into [residents’] everyday lives”, something which Heap believes the Bolton site achieves.
EV charger availability is becoming increasingly important to people who are choosing to move home. A poll taken by Zest last year revealed that six in ten Londoners consider EV charger availability in their area when choosing their next home, with 9.4% saying they would give the topic “a great deal of consideration”. Meanwhile, only a third of respondents said they would not consider nearby public EV charging options when looking for a new home.
For its part, Zest has been working to help hasten the EV charger rollout in residential areas and suburbs across the UK. In December of last year, Zest signed a15-year concession agreement with Newport City Council, which will see Zest provide 144 chargepoints across 77 locations in the city on the south-east coast of Wales. University students and faculty have also been a target for Zest’s EV charger rollout, with the company opening 78 fast and rapid EV chargers across multiple carparks at the University of Warwick.
Earlier this year, Zest also opened a new EV charging infrastructure in a Birmingham suburb. A number of rapid charging spaces have been installed in the suburb of Oscott, near Birmingham, which Heap called “community assets that breathe new life into communities”.
Zest is backed by the government-sponsored Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund (CIIF) which is managed by Zouk Capital. The firm oversaw an investment of £30 million into the company in 2021. The investor-operator says this enables it to invest in anticipation of future demand.
