5:45 pm, February 13, 2020
EDF has acquired a majority stake in the electric vehicle charging point provider Pod Point in a deal understood to be worth more than £100m.
The arrangement is part of a joint venture with Legal & General Capital.
One of the largest companies of its kind in the UK, Pod Point has rolled out 62,000 charging points across the UK, many of which are at homes and workplaces.
It also has an extensive public charging network comprising almost 3,000 UK charging bays and located in places such as Tesco and Lidl car parks and Center Parcs holiday villages.
EDF already offers one of the market’s key low-carbon electric car vehicle tariffs, with a ‘Go Electric’ scheme giving customers the chance to lease an electric vehicle while benefiting from lower off-peak electricity rates.
It follows on from EDF Group’s acquisition of Pivot Point last year, which specialises in grid-scale batteries and can provide the high-voltage power infrastructure required by EV chargers.
Simone Rossi, UK CEO of EDF, said: ‘Electric vehicles will be crucial in reducing the UK’s carbon emissions and fighting climate change. With the addition of charge points, we can help our customers reduce their carbon footprints and benefit from lower fuel costs by going electric. The additional electricity demand from EVs will require urgent investment in low-carbon generation from renewables and nuclear.’
Erik Fairbairn, Pod Point CEO and founder, said: ‘This is an incredibly exciting next chapter for Pod Point. We set out in 2009 with the vision that travel shouldn’t damage the earth and a mission to put a charge point everywhere you park. So far, we have made great progress towards those goals.
‘By joining up with EDF we can take things to the next level and accelerate our national roll-out of charging points and make it even easier for drivers across the UK to go electric. I’m immensely proud of what the Pod Point team has already achieved but it is only a fraction of what we will be able to do with EDF. We just took a big step forward in being able to deliver against our mission!’
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