The latest GRIDSERVE Electric Retail Hub has opened at Dobbies Leicester, as part of a long term partnership between the charging company and garden centre to increase the number of High Power charging locations across the UK. 

Dobbies Leicester, located near the A6, now features 12 GRIDSERVE charging bays in total to ensure space for all visitors, including two accessible bays for those with additional requirements.

The GRIDSERVE Electric Retail Hub has four dual charging units, with eight charging bays. These chargers allow two cars to charge at once at Medium Power speeds, giving EV drivers time to explore the garden centre and other amenities. There are also four High Power chargers, charging one car at a time, for a quick top up.  

To make it as easy as possible for customers to charge their EV, the Dobbies Leicester Electric Retail Hub features CCS and CHAdeMO connectors as well as AC sockets, accepts contactless payment and provides real-time status updates to a myriad of popular EV charging maps. The chargers are powered by 100% net zero carbon energy, supporting GRIDSERVE and Dobbies’ purpose to move the needle on climate change.  

Toddington Harper, CEO of GRIDSERVE, said: “We are delighted to be opening another Electric Retail Hub with our partners at Dobbies. Fast and reliable charging at convenient locations is what is needed to give drivers the confidence to switch to electric. We continue the rollout of new locations and chargers at speed and scale, and look forward to open even more GRIDSERVE chargers at Dobbies locations in the near future.” 

Nick Anderson, Dobbies Operations Director, said: “It is very important to us at Dobbies that we are constantly developing our store in line with the needs of our customers. As more drivers are switching to electric vehicles, we are delighted to be opening the electric retail hub to provide the local community with easy to access affordable and fast EV charging.”

Two Electric Retail Hubs are now open at Dobbies Swindon and Leicester, with more planned. This latest location is part of 50 new locations either already open, awaiting energisation, or in construction as part of phase one of GRIDSERVE’s 2023 delivery plans which will see 400 new chargers added to the GRIDSERVE Electric Highway.