The British Garden Centres group is to provide rapid EV charging across its UK stores under a tie-up with Osprey Charging.

A hub with eight 150kW ultra-rapid chargers opens later this year at the Carmarthen site

Its store in Carmarthen, Wales, will become the first to offer an Osprey rapid charge to its customers when a hub with eight 150kW ultra-rapid chargers opens later this year. These will be able to add 100 miles of range in 20-30 minutes, matching the ideal ‘dwell time’ for customers.

This will be followed by high-power hubs in Wimborne (Dorset), Carr Gate (Yorkshire), Braintree (Essex) and Harrow (London), while 11 further sites will go live, featuring a mix of larger hubs and some smaller installations. The plan is to roll out Osprey’s charging technology to all of its centres across the UK over the next few years.

Amy Stubbs, daughter of the founder, from British Garden Centres said: “We work hard to provide our customers with expert gardening knowledge, great value, the industry’s best gardening products and the highest quality of food in our restaurants. Partnering with Osprey allows us to build upon this further by letting our growing number of EV driving customers charge their vehicles at a time and location that is convenient for them, whilst they visit our stores.”

The deal comes a month after Osprey Charging became the first charging network to subscribe to ChargeSafe, a public charging endorsement body that independently inspects and rates EV charging locations.

Ian Johnston, CEO of Osprey Charging, commented: “The British Garden Centres name is synonymous with first-class customer experience, and we’re delighted to provide safe, reliable, and accessible charging at their UK stores. We look forward to a fruitful partnership as we work together to offer EV charging at more of its centres up and down the country.”