UK’s National Grid to install fleet of EV charging points on motorways

The National Grid has announced that it will be going ahead with plans to introduce a fleet of electric vehicle (EV) charging points to Britain’s motorways.

“People are talking about electric vehicles reaching price parity [with conventional cars] in the early to mid-2020s,” stated John Pettigrew, CEO of National Grid.

The charging systems will feed directly off the electricity network and will be able to charge cars in six to eight minutes.

The 350kW chargers will be located on 50 sites along motorways, costing between £500mn (US$673mn) and £1bn ($1.35bn) to execute the project.

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The firm is currently in talks with government departments and stakeholders for funding, however a surcharge costing about 63p ($0.85) has been proposed.

National Grid’s underlying profits for the year rose by 4%, the firm reported, reaching £2.68bn ($3.61bn).

According to the company, the recent success can be attributed to its North American business.

The firm’s earning per share grew by 3% to reach 60.4p ($0.81), whilst shares in National Grid hit £8.54 ($11.50), a 2.6% increase.