ChargePoint Services Continuing Commitment to Expansion in the East of England

30 March 2017 – ChargePoint Services continues its commitment to bring secure and reliable EV charging infrastructure across the East of England following the closure of the Source East network at the end of March.

As part of this commitment:

• Source East card holders will continue to be able to access EV charging infrastructure operated by CPS  in the region;
• CPS will offer to upgrade legacy hardware at no additional cost and transition to Pay as You Go (PAYG) thereby eliminating future data and maintenance costs; and
• CPS will continue to work with councils, local authorities and private sector hosts to build and operate Rapid (50kW) and Fast (7 – 22kW) chargers across the region.

At the end of March 2017, the Source East Network will close and the operation of the network will cease to operate on an integrated basis.   The Source East free-to-use Electric Vehicle charging network was originally set up in the East of England in 2011 as part of the Government’s Plugged-in-Places scheme. The network was set up and managed by Evalu8 Transport Innovations Limited which worked with a number of Local Authorities and private organisations to locate EV chargers.  The free-to-use” Source East network has run much longer than the funded “Plugged-in-Place” programme.

In 2016 ChargePoint Services began working with Evalu8 to improve the existing network in an effort to eliminate the unreliability and outdated technology of the legacy chargers and to put the network on a commercially sustainable basis.  However, due to technical and incompatibility issues across equipment from a variety of manufacturers, it became evident that there were a number of insurmountable challenges to managing and operating the chargers on a common data and software platform. As a consequence the continued operation of the network on a unified basis was unsustainable. The decision was therefore taken to close the network at the end of March 2017.

Notwithstanding these difficulties, ChargePoint Services maintains its commitment to the Source East region and will continue to work with stakeholders including users, local authorities and private sector hosts to improve and expand the EV Charging network. We are therefore reaching out to entities with EV infrastructure on their premises to help them transition from legacy infrastructure to state of the art EV chargers capable of being operated on a PAYG basis.  We are also actively looking for new sites and hosts with a view to deploying additional charging infrastructure.  The upgrade and expansion of this infrastructure will be a key element in the transition to low emission transport and the associated benefits these bring to the community.

Keith Bevis of Evalu8 commented, “ChargePoint Services is working to make EV charging easily accessible to all drivers across multiple EV networks.  We have worked together in delivering robust and dependable charging solutions to customers in the Source East region.  ChargePoint Services’ own rapidly expanding GeniePoint Network is built on a secure, cloud based platform backed up by an excellent customer care capability, which means EV drivers can now travel the country in their low emission vehicles.”

Alex Bamberg, Managing Director, ChargePoint Services, said, “We are resolutely focussing our energies on expanding the GeniePoint Network, this is being achieved through shared partnerships with host organisations as well as our comprehensive fully funded programme offering the total cost of installation and hardware to hosts of suitable sites.”

ChargePoint Services worked with Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, who wanted to update their EV charging facilities but had particular requirements not met by the existing legacy chargers.

Cllr Tony Cox, Executive Councillor for Transport, Waste & Cleansing, said: “Southend-on-Sea Borough Council has been looking to upgrade our electric vehicle charging units so that we can provide faster charging for the public and bring in a Pay As You Go functionality.

“We selected ChargePoint Services for their flexible approach, offering us the latest in charger technology with all the functionality we wanted for customer payment and reporting options.

“ChargePoint Services have now removed the old electric vehicle charging units and replaced them with compact Urban units, which are run as part of a nationwide network. This means that we can continue to incentivise sustainable travel by providing free parking for electric vehicle customers but still control costs by accurately charging drivers for the energy they use to recharge their vehicle. At the same time, drivers registered to use the chargers in Southend can also access all electric vehicle chargers on the rapidly-expanding GeniePoint Network across the UK.”

ChargePoint Services specialises in the installation of Rapid chargers, for our partners we provide both fully and shared funded solutions to corporate businesses or local authorities looking to provide EV charging facilities at their workplace or public car parks.  Our GeniePoint Platform is a secure cloud based service, yet unlike many other networks, it is open to interoperability with other charging networks making it extremely flexible.

Pricing to use the GeniePoint Network has been highly praised by drivers as fair and competitive, with users paying for energy used rather than time at the pump or costly monthly fees like so many competitor networks such as Polar or the Electric Highway.  Accessing our network couldn’t be easier as we support RFID, PAYG and secure network usage providing real-time network status monitoring.  Our outstanding customer care service already ensures that any driver using the GeniePoint Network is confident that chargers are reliable and should they need telephone support, our highly trained staff are available 24/7 to answer any questions.