Case Study – Green light for EV charging at Hoults Yard

Newcastle’s premier business village, Hoults Yard, has installed 12 electric vehicle (EV) charge points, which are accessible to tenants as well as local residents.

Client: Hoults Yard

Geographical area: North East of England

The Background

Hoults Yard, part of the HyHubs group, is a business village in the Ouseburn area of Newcastle. In the last decade it has attracted increasing numbers of creative firms, and now houses over 70 companies, with a growing number of shops, entertainment venues and craft studios open to the public.

To support their EV driving tenants, the company required reliable charging infrastructure with a dynamic back office solution.

“More and more of our tenants are moving to electric vehicles so it was a no-brainer for us to introduce charging points. The introduction of the chargers has gone down very well with our tenants and it gives people another reason to choose us rather than look elsewhere.”

Charlie Hoult, MD at HyHubs

The Solution

Mer approached the project with a full site survey at Hoults Yard and the recommendation based on their current demand was to install six single socket wall-mounted chargers and three double socket post-mounted chargers. Providing charge for 12 EVs at any one time.

The 7kW chargers will charge an electric car in around six to eight hours, depending on the make and model. Perfect for tenants to charge during the working day when they’re in the office.

“We’ve been using electric vehicles at the company for four years so we were delighted when the Yard installed the chargers. I’m using them to charge my own car as well as the company vans.”

Reed Ingram, Director at Ingram AV, a company based at Hoults Yard

The chargers are connected to Mer’s back-office portal. The software allows charge point owners to manage and monitor their charging infrastructure, and also generate revenue by allowing tariffs to be placed on the use of the chargers.

“The back office software enables us to set different tariffs for different users so we’re working with Mer to understand what tariffs to set, as well as how to manage fees outside of core hours to encourage use by local residents.”

Charlie Hoult, MD at HyHubs

“We are proud to support Hoults Yard with the supply, installation and management of their first EV charge points.

“The busy business village is home to both commercial and leisure facilities and is surrounded by housing which will make the new charging infrastructure a valuable community asset.

“As more people make the switch to electric vehicles, having the option to charge while at work or overnight in community locations will be critical, and this mixed-use approach will enable Hoults Yard to recoup some of its initial investment through charging tariffs. It’s a model that we expect more business parks to implement in the future.”

Scott Duncan, Associate Consultant, Mer UK – Fleet and Workplace Charging

Mer has installed a further three chargers for use by Hoults Yard tenant, Opencast Software.