Work starts on region’s largest EV charging hubs

City of York Council is delighted to be working in partnership with Evo Energy to start construction on the largest HyperHub sites in the region.

Artist impression of new hyper hub at Monks Cross.
Artist’s impression of new Hyper Hub at Monks Cross.

The council is investing £2.2m to develop sites, next to Monks Cross and Poppleton Bar Park and Rides, into high quality, high speed electric vehicle charging hubs.

Each HyperHub site will consist of solar PV canopies, battery energy storage, 4 Rapid and 4 Ultra Rapid electric vehicle chargers.

The chargers will help the region to support the next generation of electric vehicles which have significantly larger battery capacities and support higher charging speeds.

Construction on both sites has started, and will be led by EvoEnergy. The new sites at Monks Cross and Poppleton are scheduled for completion in June 2021.

City of York Council is a pioneer in the use of innovative green technology. Over recent years, the council has lead the way in providing a range of public charging facilities for electric vehicles to help reduce carbon emissions and improve local air quality thanks to EV’s eliminating NOx emissions at the point of use.

In addition to generating low carbon electricity on site through PV arrays, all of the electricity supplied from the national grid will be generated by renewable sources providing users with low carbon electricity and ensuring that no NOx emissions are emitted from electricity generation.

The council has successfully secured £1m of European Regional Development Funding and £800,000 from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles, along with £400,000 of the council’s own capital funding to install the first two HyperHubs.

This comes just at a time when the nation prepares to transition across to using electric vehicles with the announcement of a complete ban on sales of new petrol or diesel cars by 2030, with plug-in hybrid sales to end in 2035.

When the council first developed their EV charging network in 2013, there were far fewer plug-in vehicles on the road. However, over the past few years, electric vehicle technology has progressed massively and these vehicles have now become a viable option for many everyday road users.

What is Included?

City of York Council has been able to secure funding from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles and European Regional Development Fund.

This largely covers the cost of building the two HyperHub sites, along with a solar canopy system (100kWp) which will generate green electricity and keep users dry and a battery storage solution (348kW / 507kWh), meaning that the council will be able to maintain a lower tariff than commercial operators can offer.

Both of the HyperHub sites will contain 4x Ultra-Rapid (150kW) and 4x Rapid (50kW) vehicle chargers, helping to support the uptake of modern EV’s that have larger battery capacities and are capable of Ultra Rapid charging.

The development of this system will encourage private car owners, taxi drivers and business users to make use of the new facilities, therefore, improving the city’s overall carbon emissions.

Both of the HyperHub sites are started construction in January with both sites due to finish in June 2021. 

This investment is just the beginning of the journey for City of York Council as they revitalise their electric vehicle charging network in 2021 ready to support the transition to EV.

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Coronavirus York updates; 18th February 2021

Where next?

The Prime Minister has promised to publish a road map, which will guide the nation out of lockdown, on Monday.

He is (rightly) downplaying the likelihood of a major early relaxation of restrictions.

It seems certain though that – on present trends – schools will reopen to all pupils in early March. The reopening plan is likely to involve regular testing of staff and teachers.

The table below compares the daily average number of new coronavirus cases being found during the two most recent periods of lockdown in the City (November compared to the present day)

The reducing case number profile is remarkably similar for both periods.

If the pattern continues, daily case numbers would fall below 20 before the beginning of March.

There is a warning for the future in what happened after lockdown 2 ended on 2nd December 2020, when more lax Tier 2 restrictions were put in place.

Case numbers continued to drop for about a week.

Thereafter, they rose increasingly quickly before peaking at 202.14 on 8th January 2021.

It has been a long and stressful road back from that point. It is progress which must not be put at risk.

Deaths

Three additional hospital deaths have been reported today. One occurred on Monday and two on Tuesday. The cumulative total number of fatalities at the York and Scarborough Hospitals since 1st September 2020 has risen to 339.

Test results

Nineteen new positive test results were announced today. Brings the cumulative total up to 11,641.

As forecast there, has been a small increase in the case rate /100k population today. It has risen to 86.42

It is expected that the rate will resume its downward trend tomorrow.

Despite todays blip, York remains below the county, regional and national average infection rates.

Neighbourhoods

Todays blip has caused some neighbourhoods to move between blocks but no significant effect.

Haxby, which was for a time the area with the largest number of infections, now has fewer than three cases.

Vaccinations

Testing

4,445 PCR tests were conducted during the week ending 13th February.

Of these, 4.5% produced positive results.

The positivity rate continues to fall.

878 lateral flow tests were conducted on 17th February

Hospitals

The York Hospital Trust is now caring for 96 Coronavirus patients. This is down from a peak of 242 seen at the end of January

COVID-19 antibodies

According to the latest government figures issued today the number of people tested who have coronavirus anti bodies in the system has increased to 18.5%. (5th January – 1st February 2021)

When the tests started last April, only 7.5% recorded anti bodies.

Infections

Imperial College London’s React study, which tested more than 85,000 people in England between February 4 and 13, suggests infections have dropped to just one in 200 people.

The study suggested infections are halving every 15 days, and the R number – which expresses how many people the average infected individual spreads the virus to – is at 0.72.

The Romans are coming

It looks like the proposal to construct a Roman visitor attraction on Rougier Street is set to get planning permission next week.

The old Northern House 1960’s office block will be demolished and replaced with 211 apartments, new offices and the Roman history visitor attraction at ground floor level.

The proposed Roman attraction, which has a working title of Eboracum, would based on archaeological discoveries from a two-year dig on the site. It would be three times the size of the Jorvik attraction and is aiming to attract 500,000 visitors per year.

At its maximum height the new building will be of a similar height to the tallest point of the Aviva building and the Malmaison Hotel to either side.

There are a number of objections mainly relating to the size of the proposed building. There are also a large number (69) of letters of support.

Details of the application which will be determined on 24th February can be read by clicking here

The application is recommended for approval.

The development is expected to bring a major jobs boost the the City in the wake of the economic problems caused by the pandemic.

Haxby Hall

See the source image
Existing Haxby Hall building

The same meeting is expected to approve the replacement of the Haxby Hall care home with a new 65 bedroomed residential and dementia care facility.

The new care home would be managed by Yorkare Homes Ltd.

The application, which is recommended for approval, says that the existing ambulance station building will be retained.

The plans have been welcomed by social care professionals who comment,

” The proposal to develop a 65 bed care home on the Haxby Hall site is welcomed. The city has a shortage of care home accommodation and specifically for those living with dementia.

Based on national benchmarking York has a current shortage of almost 600 care bedrooms, this application will help to address this shortfall by not only providing an increased number of bedrooms but also by providing a modern, accessible facilities for residents.

I am particularly supportive of the fact that each bedroom in this proposal has an en-suite bathroom and corridors are wide enough to allow those with walking frames or wheelchair users to pass, which the existing care home does not provide.

The terraces on the upper floors will enable all residents to have access to outdoor space and nature. The way the building has been designed will allow natural light into bedrooms, corridors and communal spaces, which is a key feature in design for older person’s accommodation.

The specific provision for those living with dementia, with dementia friendly design elements and a focus on resident’s wellbeing is also strongly welcomed.

Details can be found by clicking here