UK charge point operator Zapgo is pushing ahead with plans to bring EV charging to underserved areas with a new project in rural Scotland.

It’s installed a brand-new rapid charge site at a Tesco Express store in the small town of Lochmaben, located around 70 miles south of Glasgow in the historic county of Dumfriesshire.

The project has gone live with the help of Kempower, which has supplied its fast EV chargers for the Lochmaben site.

Kempower supplied one of its 500kW Power Units along with one 200kW Double Satellite, which serves Zapgo’s two charging bays at the Tesco Express.

The Kempower technology was selected due to its compact product size and flexible configuration options; its Double Satellite charger is slightly bigger than an A4 piece of paper, making it an effective solution for the compact Tesco Express site, located along the bank of Kirk Loch. The Kempower Power Unit can also be positioned away from the charging bays, saving valuable space in the customer car park.

Kempower’s chargers are also suited for retail applications due to their dynamic charging capabilities, meaning power is shared flexibly between each dispenser depending on the real-time needs of the connected vehicles. This supports the need for quick charging during short shopping stops.

Destination charge sites such as express stores and retail parks have quickly become a major category in the EV charging rollout, representing around half of all public charge points in the UK.

Rolle Nieminen, Kempower’s head of sales for the UK & Ireland, said: “We’ve been delighted to work with Zapgo for the first time on this project, which brings essential EV charging provisions to people living in and around Lochmaben. We pride ourselves on the ability of our charging systems to be flexible and space-efficient, which is crucial in rural areas where available land is limited and every installation counts.”

Zapgo’s growing charging network is currently concentrated around rural, semi-rural and semi-urban regions, which lack the same level of EV charging infrastructure as more urban areas.

Joanna Moffatt, head of network, said: “By building infrastructure where it’s needed most, we help people feel confident about making the switch to electric, knowing they’ll have reliable places to charge when visiting the places they want and need to go. It also opens up new routes for electric fleets, letting them serve areas that were previously out of reach.”