Companies news Ubitricity hits 7,000 milestone One of the UKs leading electric vehicle (EV) chargepoint operators, ubitricity, has successfully installed more than 7,000 chargepoints in the UK. This milestone comes off the back of several recent contract awards that are part of a wider effort to provide more publicly available EV charging for the millions of UK drivers without private parking. Ubitricity, a wholly owned subsidiary of Shell, is helping enable the countrys transition to EVs by converting lampposts into chargepoints in residential areas. It is also deploying fast and rapid chargepoints for local authorities in accessible areas such as council car parks and leisure centres. Fantastic first year for Twin and Twinpay Parking and EV charging payment solution provider Twin is celebrating a fantastic first year of trading since launching at Parkex 2022. Twin offers contactless payment terminals and an easy-to-use mobile app Twinpay that allow drivers to pay for parking, EV charging or both in one simple process. Twinpay has enjoyed massive uptake, with more than 40,000 users generating more than 3m in turnover in recent months. Marcell Sas, Twin operations director, said: The advantage of our app or terminals is that you can extend your EV charging session and pay for parking in one seamless transaction. Later this year a pre-booking system will be available via the app. Dundee Council links with Swarco for EV Oasis Dundee Council has opened its fourth public electric vehicle (EV) charging hub, following a collaboration with Swarco Smart Charging. The Clepington Road EV Charging Oasis as it is known comprises five rapid 50kW chargers and a single 150kW ultra-rapid charger, adding another 12 chargepoints to the citys public provision. It was launched on 25 April, in the presence of Mark Flynn, Dundees city development convener, and Swarco executives. The hub is the first to feature Swarcos new hub design, with a particular focus on accessibility and accommodating the needs of drivers with a disability. Justin Meyer, managing director of Swarco Smart Charging, said EV adoption has reached a tipping point and accessibility for all drivers is essential: Accessibility is not negotiable. EV bays must be designed with maximum accessibility, but there is still a serious lack of formal guidance and regulation to ensure that public charging is accessible to all EV drivers, he said. There are many factors that dictate how accessible an EV charging location is, from the physical space and hardware to all elements of the user experience, which means there are many potential barriers. We recognise that more needs to be done to achieve fairness and inclusivity, so our aim is to remove as many of those potential barriers as possible, particularly when it comes to wheelchair access, which is why we have been collaborating with experts on this issue. See our lead feature on pages 14-16 for more on accessibility and EV chargepoints. Swarco Smart Charging is introducing four new EV chargers: the Drive, Swift, Stina and Stina Duo. Drive is an AC charging station ideal for home charging, while the Swift is a slick, weather-resistant charger with interchangeable heads and mixed connector options. The Swarco Stina and Stina Duo are compact wall boxes that are damage resistant and useful when space is at a premium. 10 PN June 2023 pp10-11 Companies News.indd 10 23/05/2023 14:13