Electric vehicle charging company Fastned will repurpose an old warehouse to build the UK’s first “indoor drive-through ultra-rapid electric vehicle charging hub”.
Fastned has been given council backing to redevelop an old industrial unit in Aberdeen into a fully covered charging hub that promises to offer comparable facilities, shelter and refill times to a conventional petrol station. The hub, located off Virginia Street on the Aberdeen ring road, will have 12 chargers pumping out up to 400kW – which, Fastned says, is theoretically enough to add 100 miles of range in five minutes. However, only a few EVs currently on sale are capable of charging so quickly.
The chargers will be arranged in what Fastned calls a ‘drive-through’ format, which gives a layout like a traditional petrol station – claimed to make parking easier for all types of vehicle and make it quicker to plug them in, in turn reducing turnaround times.
The hub – planned to open in late 2026 – will also contain toilets, a shop and a seating area “to keep drivers comfortable while they charge”.
The existing warehouse structure will be preserved, which will mean the chargers are sheltered from the elements, whereas usually public chargers are out in the open. Fastned says the decision to keep the old building in place also makes this a “sustainable conversion” with a “drastically” reduced environmental impact compared with brand-new charging sites.
Fastned UK boss Tom Hurst welcomed Aberdeen City Council’s decision to approve the facility and said the firm will “break ground at the site as soon as possible and kick-start this very exciting project”.
He added: “It’s really a revolutionary approach to EV charging and will transform the charging experience for many customers, especially in a part of the country where the weather isn’t always the best. We’re truly delighted to be supporting the EV transition in Scotland and expanding our network further north.”
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