Charge Your Car While You Charge Your Credit Card: Bluewater Set to Host the UK's Biggest EV Charging Hub

If you have ever driven an electric car to a shopping centre only to find every charger occupied (or worse, out of order), there is good news on the horizon. A £24.5 million deal between RAW Charging and property giant Landsec is about to transform the EV charging landscape at some of the UK's most popular retail destinations.

The Big Numbers

The partnership will see 1,000 new EV charging bays installed across 28 Landsec leisure and retail sites nationwide. That is not a typo. One thousand. The deal spans 20 years, so this is not some flash-in-the-pan pilot scheme that quietly disappears after a press release.

The headline act? Bluewater shopping centre in Greenhithe, Kent, which is set to become the UK's largest destination charging hub with approximately 200 new bays. To put that in perspective, Bluewater currently has just 56 EV chargers (39 Pod Point units and 17 Tesla Superchargers). So we are talking about roughly quadrupling the site's charging capacity overnight. Well, not literally overnight, but you get the idea.

That will comfortably dethrone the current title holder, the NEC Birmingham, which offers 180 simultaneous chargers. Not bad for a place most people associate with buying trainers and eating Nando's.

Not Just Bluewater

It is worth clarifying something the headlines might gloss over: those 1,000 bays are spread across all 28 Landsec sites, not crammed into one enormous car park. Other locations getting a charging boost include Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth, White Rose Shopping Centre in Leeds, and Brighton Marina. So wherever you are in the country, there is a decent chance your local retail haunt is on the list.

Fast and Rapid, Take Your Pick

The breakdown of chargers is genuinely useful. Of the 1,000 new bays, 554 will be AC fast chargers and 446 will be DC rapid chargers. The AC units suit the typical shopping trip nicely. If you are spending 30 minutes to an hour browsing (or hiding from the weather in the food court), that is enough time to add a meaningful chunk of range. The DC rapids, meanwhile, are there for when you need a quicker top-up.

All chargers will support contactless payment and work with major EV charging apps, which is a relief. Nothing kills the EV experience quite like needing to download yet another obscure app just to plug in.

Why This Actually Matters

The UK's public charging network has improved enormously in recent years, but it remains patchy. Motorway services have had the lion's share of investment, while retail and leisure destinations have lagged behind. That is a problem, because these are exactly the places where people naturally spend enough time for a meaningful charge.

Bluewater alone has 13,000 parking spaces and is the fifth largest shopping centre in the UK. The fact that it has limped along with 56 chargers until now tells you everything about how slowly destination charging has been rolled out.

RAW Charging is not new to this space either. The company already operates charging infrastructure at National Trust properties, Legoland Windsor, Alton Towers, and McArthurGlen Designer Outlets. Partnering with Landsec gives them access to some of the busiest retail footfall in the country.

The Verdict

This is exactly the kind of infrastructure investment the UK's EV transition needs. It is substantial, long-term, and focused on the places people actually go. The 20-year commitment is particularly encouraging, as it suggests both parties see this as a serious commercial play rather than a greenwashing exercise.

For the millions of EV drivers (and prospective EV drivers) who have been put off by charging anxiety, 1,000 new bays at popular shopping and leisure spots is genuinely meaningful. Now you just need to resist the urge to spend more inside the shops than you have saved on petrol.

Read the original article at source.