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Electric cars: Norwich compact electric forecourt opens

Gridserve Norwich Gridserve's electric forecourt with a row of electric vehicle charging pointsGridserve
The electric forecourt in Norwich was designed around the needs of electric vehicle drivers, according to Gridserve

An electric forecourt has opened as part of a company's £1bn investment in charging infrastructure network in the UK.

Gridserve said the site in Norwich was its "first compact electric forecourt" in the country.

New petrol and diesel cars will not be sold in the UK from 2030.

Chief executive Toddington Harper said there were "more high-power chargers here in Norwich than anywhere else in the UK".

The company said it hoped the site, which will be supplied by renewable energy and will able to charge up to 36 electric vehicles at a time, would encourage the switch to electric vehicles.

Gridserve Seating area inside the electric forecourtGridserve
The site will be able to charge 36 vehicles at a time

The east of England has 29 electric vehicle (EV) chargers per 100,000 people, which is lower than the UK average of 42 per 100,000 people, according to Gridserve.

Since opening its first electric forecourt in in 2020 in Braintree, Essex, the area had seen an increase in EV registrations by 82%, the company said.

'They are the future'

Toddington Harper standing outside the Gridserve electric forecourt in Norwich
Gridserve's CEO said electric forecourts were "the future"

The chargers have 350kW of power and can supply 100 miles of charge in five minutes.

However, Mr Harper said electric cars currently could not accept that power, but the chargers were "future-proofed".

"When cars are able to charge faster, we've got the chargers in place ready to support that," he added.

He said electric forecourts "are the future, but [...] they're also the present".

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