New charging facilities at Swindon and Bristol as NR expands EV rollout

Network Rail has installed its first dedicated EV charging facilities for its commercial road fleet, at its Swindon and Bristol depots.

The installation has enabled the trial of 25 fully electric small vans that have been added as part of NR’s Project Zero initiative to electrify its entire fleet, to meet Department for Transport decarbonisation targets by 2027.

The installation of six charging points at NR’s Swindon depot and a further three at Bristol (22kW 3-phase AC chargers with a capability to fully charge electric small vans in under eight hours overnight) will assist its critical services operations in enabling 24/7 mobilisation of engineers to perform on-site maintenance and repairs.

The installation at Swindon and Bristol was managed by Novuna Vehicle Solutions (NVS) and will be followed by further installations at designated sites in Cardiff, Derby, Doncaster, Glasgow, Newcastle, Sandwell & Dudley, and Shrewsbury as part of Project Zero.

The project to install 24 sockets across nine sites over a two-year period runs alongside the existing £136 million fleet management contract with NR, in which NVS oversees the management of the organisation’s entire owned and leased road fleet, as well as sourcing and supplying over 3,000 lease vehicles since 2019.