Little Chef invests in electric car initiative

The project is in partnership with SSE, a leading generator of renewable energy, and Chargemaster, which will provide the charging technology.

Initially the roll out will see the installation of 126 charging points in Little Chef car parks by the spring of 2012. The plan is for all 162 Little Chefs across the UK to have an ev charging point by the end of next year. That would then mean that 90% of the UK would be no further than 30 miles from a Little Chef equipped with an ev charging point.

The new facility, which will be offered free in the first year, will allow fast charging of up to 7 kW allowing 'electric motorists' to top up their cars while stopping for a break.

Little Chef says it is the first national restaurant chain to recognise the need to provide roadside ev charging facilities. Managing Director Tracey Mulligan said: “This represents an important stage in the brand development of Little Chef, we recently launched a completely new brand identity and introduced a top quality grab and go food offering. Our approach to ethical sourcing of our food is also absolutely in line with offering electric car charging points.

The initiative has also won praise from the Government. Norman Baker, Transport Minister, said: “I welcome this big thinking from Little Chef, giving a taste of the future in the move towards a first class national recharging network for plug-in cars. The Government has provided £30m of funding for electric car charging infrastructure through the Plugged-In Places programme in cities and regions across the UK. This private-sector-led initiative is just the kind of ingredient we need to drive the development of our national network of recharging infrastructure.  It is great to see another example of UK enterprise coming forward to make the most of the opportunity”.