A new electric vehicle (EV) charging hub is providing a surge of festive support for nearby businesses.
Rhyl’s West Kinmel car park site, the largest charging hub in Wales, recently launched to support owners of electric vehicles locally and further afield.
The 36 vehicle capacity hub, funded by the Welsh Government, follows the successful installation of chargers at Kings Avenue car park at Prestatyn in the summer.
Rhyl’s new hub is a mix of ‘fast’ 7kwh chargers for local users who have no access to off street parking and ‘rapid’ 50kw chargers for a quick charge top up and also to help local taxi drivers on the uptake of electric vehicles by minimising disruption to operational work time.
Stations across the hub are now giving a timely boost to Rhyl businesses as Christmas approaches.
All the stations are carrying the Discover Rhyl QR code, powered by QR Boxx, in partnership with Rhyl Business Improvement District (BID).
Visitors topping up their vehicles can scan the QR code on the machines with their phone and find out all about the different range of businesses Rhyl has to offer while they wait for their vehicle to be charged.
The Council has also linked in with Rhyl BID as part of the #LoveLiveLocal campaign which aims to encourage support for local businesses across Denbighshire.
Cllr Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport said: “The new hub in Rhyl is designed to help us support the public and Council in transitioning to EV vehicles as we work to reduce our carbon footprint across Denbighshire and further afield.
“We also want to make sure that those visiting can sample what Rhyl has to offer while charging their vehicles, hopefully providing a boost to the town businesses, especially this time of year.
“We are really pleased to link up with Rhyl BID’s QR code initiative to showcase what Rhyl has to offer to visitors as it is a great website and also fits in with our ongoing Love Live Local business support campaign.”
Abigail Pilling, Rhyl BID manager said: “The new electric vehicle charging park is a positive step for Rhyl and for our environment, that positions our town as a pro-active and convenient hub”.
“Simon Williams, creator of QR Boxx, grew up in Rhyl, and has created a user-friendly digital tool that can be used by both businesses and the wider community to showcase local businesses, events and activities, and special offers, simply by scanning the code or visiting qrboxx-rhyl.com. People can also purchase Your Rhyl vouchers to spend at participating locations in Rhyl via the platform.”
All the chargers at the hub are open for public use and three of the parking bays and charging units are specifically allocated for disabled users.
The charging units also offer a range of bilingual payment options including, contactless card, App driven and RFID Card.
Daytime and peak time users will still pay for a parking space at the hub however the electric vehicle bays will have no parking charges levied between 17:00 and 08:00 as per the rest of the car park.