Australian-headquartered financial services group Macquarie is supporting new investment to roll out a network of fast-charging electric vehicle chargers across the UK.

Roadchef will install around 650 fast-charging points across most of its sites

The new investment by Macquarie’s Roadchef business, one of Britain’s leading motorway service area operators, will enable installation of around 650 fast-charging points across most of its sites in conjunction with partners.

The upgraded EV charging facilities will be partly powered by 9MW of new solar energy capacity installed onsite.

Working with partners, Roadchef will also pilot charging solutions for heavy goods vehicles at two key locations across the motorway network whilst developing 100 additional parking bays in preparation for electric HGVs.

Macquarie said the support was part of a wider £20bn of package of planned investment activity across its UK portfolio.

Shemara Wikramanayake, managing director and CEO of Macquarie Group, commented: “The upgrade of Roadchef sites is our latest in a long line of investments in UK infrastructure and we have plans to invest more.

“We believe that infrastructure investment helps create strong foundations for economic growth, job creation, better services for the public and stronger communities. We are fully invested in the UK’s success and look forward to playing our part in delivering the investment the country needs.”