Fastned's first charging hub in Northern Ireland is now officially live, we were there with Fastned, M&M Contractors, EVANI, & others yesterday for the launch. Let's see what it has to offer.

It's located just off the A1, outside The Boulevard, Banbridge, Co. Down - just a stone's throw from KFC, Starbucks, & Go Coffee.

The hub is comprised of 6 400kW units - 4 of which are dual CCS, the other 2 dual CCS + Chademo (1 of these you can see above); in all, 12 CCS & 2 Chademo connectors are available. Multiple methods of use are supported:

• Contactless payment;
• Fastned app (including Gold Member subscription);
• Autocharge, aka Plug & Charge, or;
• Charging card, e.g. Plugsurfing.

Fastned's currently priced at £0.74/kWh for non-subscribers (whatever the method of use), while subscribers receive a 30% discount (given current pricing that would suggest £0.52/kWh). If you're unfamiliar with Northern Ireland charging costs, this puts it broadly level with Ionity (non-subscriber £0.74/kWh, basic subscription £0.53/kWh), & less expensive than bp pulse (£0.85/kWh).

Enabling convenient use by drivers across the island, the contactless payment pre-authorisation amount is £40, which puts it below the Irish threshold (€50), i.e. tapping your Irish-issued debit / credit card will be possible, in addition to Google / Apple Pay.

Fastned's iconic design elements, unsurprisingly, feature throughout.

All chargers are covered by their solar tree canopy (with a good amount of transparency enabling much natural lighting during the day, but also with powered lights for when it's darker, & at night).

In a first for a large charging hub on the island, all charging spaces are pull-through too. With extendable arms & lengthy cables you will be able to connect to your vehicle from whatever space you go to, regardless of where your charge port is located.

 

Giving some sense of this, a Volvo FH Electric showed up. While no trailer, no issues with height, nor did it impinge upon the charging space of the vehicle behind it. Impressively, this was seen to be charging at 212kW at 79% state of charge.

Next up for Fastned is a site in Antrim, which is set to open in March. We'll keep you up to date on any future locations in Ireland on Infrastructure Updates.