
I’m rather embarrassed to say I have never visited a GRIDSERVE Electric Forecourt, something I definitely should have done a lot earlier, particularly as the idea for the first Electric Forecourt, in Braintree, Essex, was first presented to the world at the first EV SUMMIT. Back then, GRIDSERVE was more an idea than infra and the ambition of the project seemed to be part of an alternative charging universe. Now, the UK has four fully operational and totally beautiful Electric Forecourts (Braintree, Stevenage, Gatwick, and Norwich), with a further eight in the planning phase.
These charging hubs are simply outstanding. Totally next level. I’ve long argued that charging needs less of one type of experience: operational issues (chargers not working), mapping issues (not being able to find them), booking issues (not being able to pre-schedule your charging session and payment issues), pre-payment (the multiple app nightmare-verse); and more of another type of experience: good food, good times, good rest and recuperation. Imagine a world where you know that a charging infrastructure hub is where you go to visit the gym, go for a swim, or is part of a head massage chain (a 20 minute head massage while your car is charging is something I’d sign up for!).
So what’s so great about GRIDSERVE? In short, everything. You want a great place to eat and have a coffee? Tick. You want to hang out with her friends / community? Tick (when I was there there was a gaming community having a meet-up). You want to have a meeting in a conference room? Tick. You want to grab some grub for the journey? Tick. You want someone on hand to advise you on using the chargers? Tick. GRIDSERVE have gurus on hand to help. Next. Level.

On, and there’s next level charging, too, with 22 CCS chargers up to 350 kW; 6 CHAdeMo chargers and four Type 2s up to 22 kW.
When I was there, there was high utilisation, but still six or seven charging bays available, so a good mix of availability experienced and good for GRIDSERVE’s uptime revenue.
For a superlatively good food experience, nothing beats the farm produce experience of the Westmorland Family motorway service areas (Tebay, and Gloucester services), and it would be great to see more of those in smaller and mid-sized variants.
At Green.TV Media, the company behind the EV SUMMIT, ElectricDrives and World EV Day, we’ve launched the Better campaign: the idea that, now the car and charging tech is much more advanced, we can, and very much should, be on the front foot, confidently championing emobility rather than feeling like we need to justify our place in the world as we counter the negative voices that have been so dominant over the last couple of years. GRIDSERVE Electric Forecourts are a perfect example of this: the charging experience is, quite simply, better than a combustion refuelling experience.
Following GRIDSERVE’s lead, charging infrastructure businesses should reinvent themselves as charging experience businesses. Others should follow this optional example.