A bus company based at Summercourt has become the first operator in the UK to offer a consumer charging hub to help the community make the switch to electric vehicles.

First Bus’s new ‘turn-up-and-charge’ hub will offer eight rapid charging facilities available on a pay-as-you-go basis, which will fully charge a family car in under 30 minutes.

Preparations and works are underway on site and it is anticipated that the purpose-built hub will be fully operational and open to the public later this summer.

First Bus says the hub is ideally placed to provide the local area with key electrical charging infrastructure.

The site is also easily accessible in a key location near the main A30 tourist route into Cornwall, helping ease holiday makers’ EV range anxiety as they travel through the county.

The charging hub will be easily accessible to the A30 (First Bus)

The hope is the electric charging hub will help more people make the switch to electric to improve local air quality.  

The chargers will also be available for local businesses to use following the successful pilot of B2B charging provision by First Bus in Glasgow and Leicester, where companies such as DPD and Police Scotland benefit from the use of the operator’s infrastructure for their EV fleets. 

The Summercourt charging hub is the next step in the company’s decarbonisation strategy and aligns with its mission to operate a fully zero emission fleet by 2035 and marks a huge leap forward for its customers, colleagues and the local environment.  

First Bus, which is one of the UK’s largest bus operators, made the investment announcement for the new purpose-built consumer EV charging hub on Thursday to mark Clean Air Day 2023.

First Bus South managing director Simon Goff said: “We’re proud to be leading the way with this first of its kind offering for consumer electric charging at our depot. 

“We want to help the communities we serve with their own transition to green transport solutions. 

“We’re not doing this because of rules, or regulations, but because we believe it’s the right thing to do. This represents a significant investment, and futureproofing our business at sites like Summercourt, is another step in our journey as we look to transition to zero emission buses over the coming years.”