Raw Charging is celebrating the launch of two new electric vehicle charging hubs at shopping centres in Yorkshire and Leicestershire by offering free charging for all customers for their inaugural week of operation.

Raw has opened its largest EV rapid charging hub to date at Junction27 Retail Park

The sites include a new hub – Raw’s largest to date – at Junction27 Retail Park, located at junction 27 of the M62 in Batley, West Yorkshire. The site contains 10 charging bays with 300kW ultra-rapid DC chargers and six charging bays with 22kW fast chargers.

The shopping centre is centrally located between Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield and Wakefield, and is home to top brands including Currys, Ikea, Barker & Stonehouse, Furniture Village and Pizza Express.

Free charging at this site started as of 12.01am on Thursday 14 December and normal fees will kick in at 23.59 on Wednesday 20 December.

The second site is located at St George’s Shopping Park, Leicester, also owned by UK commercial property firm REIT and advised by Abrdn. The site contains eight charging bays with 300kW ultra rapid chargers and four with 150kW ultra-rapids.

Free charging will begin at 12.01am on Friday 22 December and normal fees will resume at 23.59 on Thursday 28 December.

The launch of the new sites builds on Raw’s Rapid Hub strategy, which includes sites in Slough, Bishop Auckland and Croydon.

Raw is fast rolling out destination charging for the hospitality, leisure, and retail sectors in partnership with a range of organisations such as McArthurGlen Designer Outlets, Merlin Entertainments, National Trust and Greene King.

The firm works with commercial property owners to develop brownfield land into EV rapid hubs.

Jason Simpson, CEO, Raw Charging, said: “We think it is only fitting to celebrate by offering free charging for a week, especially over the Christmas period, allowing shoppers to do last-minute Christmas shopping and go to the Boxing Day sales, all whilst charging for free.

“Both retail parks offer a range of shops and restaurants, making them the perfect locations for us to work with the landlord’s advisor, Abrdn, to install our chargers, allowing customers to charge whilst they enjoy the range of facilities. Rapid hubs form an important part of our strategy and we offer a turnkey solution to all asset owners that are looking to install EV chargers on their land.”