Australian financial services firm Macquarie Group has announced it will support new investment to roll-out fast-charging electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure as part of a £20bn package across its UK portfolio.
Announced at the UK’s International Investment summit, the cash will be used at the firm’s Roadchef motorway service area operator business, and will see around 650 fast-charging points across most of its sites in conjunction with partners.
The upgraded EV charging facilities will be partly powered by 9 MW of new solar energy capacity installed on-site. Working with partners, Roadchef will also pilot charging solutions for heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) at two key locations across the motorway network whilst developing 100 additional parking bays in preparation for electric HGVs.
Investment in Roadchef sites is part of the firm’s wider £20bn investment plans across energy, transport, digital, utilities and waste infrastructure.
Other planned investment includes 5GW of new offshore wind developments, including projects off the Orkney and Lincolnshire coasts; new solar power and battery energy storage projects; the gas transmission network; ultra-fast full fibre and wireless broadband; new homes; and “high potential UK companies”, including utilities connections, wind farm performance analytics and smart metering.
Macquarie Group (Macquarie) Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Shemara Wikramanayake, said:
“The upgrade of Roadchef sites is our latest in a long line of investments in UK infrastructure and we have plans to invest more.
“We believe that infrastructure investment helps create strong foundations for economic growth, job creation, better services for the public and stronger communities. We are fully invested in the UK’s success and look forward to playing our part in delivering the investment the country needs.”
Image from Shutterstock
