More EV charging points at Network Rail car parks

Electric vehicle drivers are now able to charge their cars at five more Network Rail-managed car parks at railway stations, following the installation of 450 new charging points.

NR is installing EV charge points across 10% of spaces (779 spaces) at its car parks by March 2024. In this phase it has added Reading (160 charging points), Manchester Piccadilly (111), Edinburgh Waverley (84), Leeds (56) and Welwyn Garden City (41).

The Compleo charging points are marked with green parking bays, and passengers pay using the APCOA Connect app. Powered by renewable energy, they fully charge an EV in three to four hours.

“As part of our wider Environmental Sustainability Strategy, we’re working towards delivering a low-emission railway and aiming to reach net-zero emissions by 2045 in Scotland and by 2050 in the rest of Britain,” said NR Chief Environment & Sustainability Officer Jo Lewington.

“Supporting the move to EVs is a key part of that. We hope that by providing affordable, efficient, and reliable charging points we can encourage more EVs and help promote healthier air in and around our stations.”

■ The APCOA Connect payment system is fully integrated to enable users to make either a single payment to cover both their EV and parking charge combined, or individual payments for parking or EV charging. All utilisation data for parking and EV charging is provided to NR via APCOA Analytics’ online dashboard.

The system is already live at Manchester Piccadilly and is being extended to Birmingham New Street station this month.

It has also been installed in disabled parking bays, so that it is also available to Blue Badge holders.

All EV charging points are also visible on Zap Map.