What are claimed to be Europe’s first fully retractable electric vehicle (EV) chargers have been installed in Dundee, Scotland.
Urban Fox – a partnership between Balfour Beatty’s investment arm and startup Urban Electric Networks – has installed 18 new Mk5 UEone chargers across nine locations in the city for Dundee City Council.
Urban Fox said the 7kW on-street charge points are the first of their kind in the market. They rise from the ground “to an accessible height” and auto-retract flat when not in use.
They are operated through the Urban Fox App.
Balfour’s expansion into the EV market
The chargers were developed over seven years and underwent a two-and-a-half-year trial, which Urban Fox said was successful.
Last year, Balfour announced its expansion into the EV charging market through its partnership with Urban Electric Networks to form Urban Fox.
The partnership has received up to £60m of capital from Balfour Beatty Investments, Balfour’s investment business.
At the time, Balfour said the money was expected to fund the rollout of up to 35,000 charge points across local authorities in the UK over the next decade.
Urban Fox said the venture will support local authorities achieve green targets as set out in the government’s EV infrastructure strategy, while helping to meet a growing demand for on-street EV charge points.
