Dobbies Garden Centres has teamed up with Gridserve to open a series of EV charging hubs at its sites across the UK.

The first Dobbies charging hub has already gone live at Swindon

The first Dobbies charging hub has already gone live at Swindon, featuring 12 charging bays – 10 medium-power and two high-power charges. These also include two accessible bays to support both larger vehicles and disabled customers.

The hub includes CCS and CHAdeMO connectors as well as AC sockets. It also accepts contactless payment and provides real-time status updates to a number of popular EV charging maps. The chargers are powered by 100% net zero carbon energy, supporting Gridserve’s and Dobbies’ work to address climate change.

Further sites will roll out across the UK; in total, more than 10 locations are planned.

Graeme Jenkins, CEO at Dobbies, said: “This partnership with Gridserve demonstrates our ongoing commitment to providing our customers environmentally friendly solutions, and contributes to our Sustainable Dobbies journey. We are very proud to be the first garden centre retailer to work with this forward-thinking company and look forward to welcoming electric vehicle drivers as we roll out this service throughout 2023.”

The Electric Retail Hubs are a new offering alongside Gridserve’s Electric Super Hubs at motorway service areas and its Electric Forecourts in Norwich, Braintree and imminently at Gatwick Airport.

Toddington Harper, CEO of Gridserve, said: “This type of convenient local charging is the key to widespread adoption of electric vehicles and we’re so pleased to work with Dobbies here. We’re looking forward to delivering many more locations, both with Dobbies and across the UK’s major road network in 2023.”