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RAW Charging has launched a 28 bay charging hub at Charlton Riverside in Southeast London, comprising 12 50kW DC rapid chargers and 16 22kW AC fast chargers. The site is located near London City Airport and retail destinations including Sainsbury's, M&S, Boots, Decathlon and PureGym. RAW has now deployed over 65 charging bays across East and Southeast London through hubs at Eastern Avenue Retail Park, Gallions Reach Shopping Park, Merrielands Retail Park and Forest Hill.

Why it matters: The deployment demonstrates RAW Charging's continued focus on retail and leisure anchor sites, a model that offers predictable footfall and dwell time for charge point operators. The mix of 50kW DC and 22kW AC units reflects a strategy to serve both rapid top up and longer stay use cases at a single location.

Sainsbury's has finished installing 12 EV parking and charging bays at its Hankridge Retail Park superstore in Taunton, Somerset. The rollout responds to rising electric vehicle adoption across the region, where some retailers have yet to provide dedicated charging infrastructure. The work follows similar EV canopy projects at nearby Morrisons sites in Taunton.

Why it matters: The completion adds to a cluster of grocery retail charging deployments in Taunton, signalling competitive pressure on supermarkets to offer destination charging as EV uptake accelerates. For charge point operators and installers, the trend underscores growing demand for turnkey solutions at high footfall retail sites.

Rightcharge has introduced a Gold Card subscription that reduces rapid and ultra-rapid charging costs to 59p per kWh and fast charging to 49p per kWh, delivering savings of up to 35% against standard pay as you go rates. The card, priced at £4.99 per driver per month, provides access to more than 11,300 charge points operated by Sainsbury's Smart Charge, Ionity, BP Pulse and BeEv across the UK. The AA piloted the scheme, which builds on Rightcharge's standard card covering 79% of the UK's public charging network.

Why it matters: Multi-network fleet charging subscriptions that cut costs by a third may shift procurement decisions away from single-operator contracts, particularly for mixed-route fleets needing broad geographic coverage. The pricing structure also signals competitive pressure on network operators to offer volume discounts through aggregator partnerships rather than direct fleet deals.

A new electric vehicle charging hub has launched at the Sainsbury's store on Tower Road at Gateway Retail Park in south Lowestoft, Suffolk. The facility, operated by Source, provides ultra-rapid charging infrastructure at the retail location. The hub was opened by Deepa Chandrasekaran, managing director at Source.

Why it matters: The deployment adds ultra-rapid charging capacity at a high-footfall retail site, reflecting the ongoing build-out of destination charging infrastructure in UK market towns. For procurement teams and site hosts, it demonstrates the viability of supermarket car parks as anchor locations for rapid charging hubs.

Sainsbury's has granted Openreach engineers access to its Smart Charge electric vehicle network across the UK, according to ISPreview UK. The arrangement allows field engineers from the broadband infrastructure operator to use charging points at Sainsbury's stores while on duty. The move expands access to the supermarket's existing charging estate for commercial fleet users.

Why it matters: The partnership demonstrates how retail charge point operators can unlock additional utilisation and revenue by opening networks to corporate fleets, a model that may appeal to other CPOs seeking to maximise asset returns during off peak hours.

Zapmap's 2025 annual satisfaction survey of 3,976 battery electric vehicle drivers, conducted in September and October, ranked Tesla highest among large networks (over 500 devices) for the second consecutive year, while Sainsbury's Smart Charge led medium networks (150 to 500 devices). The combined rankings now feature 19 networks, with new additions and category movements reflecting market evolution.

Why it matters: The rankings provide procurement teams and charge point operators with driver validated reliability benchmarks across UK rapid and ultra-rapid networks. Understanding which networks score highest on user satisfaction helps inform partnership decisions and competitive positioning in a market where 19 operators now compete across size categories.