The first all-electric auto service station will open in Britain on Monday as drivers increasingly avoid cars fueled by gasoline and diesel.
It’s another sign the energy and transport industries are gearing up to deal with as many as 30 million electric vehicles on the road by 2040. Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to phase out traditional engines in cars from 2030 and set the most agressive target in the Group of 20 nations for slashing greenhouse-gas emissions.
The station in Essex, southeast England, is the first of 100 electric facilities that Gridserve and Hitachi Capital U.K. Plc. are planning and is part of a 1 billion-pound ($1.35 billion) program to roll out the stations across the country. It includes 36 rapid chargers powered only by renewable energy. The charging technology is among the fastest commercially available in Britain and can top up a battery with 200 miles (322 kilometers) of capacity in 20 minutes.
Gridserve has updated “the traditional petrol station model for a net-zero carbon world and is delivering the confidence people need to make the switch to electric transport today — a full decade ahead of the 2030 ban,” said Toddington Harper, its founder and chief executive officer.