Executive Summary
- Ultra-rapid EV charging network provider InstaVolt has so far this month announced £250 million in committed debt financing for future development and expansion, as well as bringing five new battery energy storage systems sites online
- At least 20 more sites are being planned before the end of 2026
- “We understand the technology,” wrote InstaVolt CEO Delvin Lane. “We understand energy markets. And we understand that innovation is essential for the future of the UK’s EV charging infrastructure”
It has been a busy month so far for InstaVolt, the Basingstoke-headquartered ultra-rapid EV charging network provider.
This week, the company confirmed it had secured £250 million in committed debt financing, to support the continued expansion of its network across the UK and Ireland. The refinancing ‘will help accelerate the rollout of InstaVolt’s infrastructure while supporting continued investment in innovative technology, network reliability and the long-term EV driver experience,’ the company noted.
The funding will also provide ‘long-term support for investment in new sites, network maintenance, and technologies such as battery energy storage systems’, InstaVolt added.
What innovation is going on was glimpsed in a release from earlier this month, where InstaVolt announced it had just brought five new BESS sites online, with at least 20 more planned before the end of 2026. At the Winchester Superhub, the UK’s largest ultra-rapid EV charging superhub with 44 160kW chargers, the company noted that in March alone, combining on-site battery storage with solar generation, 42,000 kWh of zero-cost solar power was fed into the network.
Alongside this, 91% of all energy sold was delivered during peak hours, even though 89% of energy purchased from the grid was stored overnight off-peak. “The result is a site that delivers lower prices for drivers – regardless of when they plug in,” InstaVolt noted.
“We understand the technology,” wrote InstaVolt CEO Delvin Lane on LinkedIn. “We understand energy markets. And we understand that innovation is essential for the future of the UK’s EV charging infrastructure.”
Yet beneath this lies a fascinating network of operators and funders which shows the beating heart of UK EV charging infrastructure. At Corley North and South Services, where InstaVolt have had a presence since 2021, the addition of 230 kVA of battery capacity brought total available power up to 500 kVA apiece across a total of 15 chargers. At Corley South, energy delivered per session has increased by 33%.
One particularly interesting name who commented on this was Andy Palmer, CEO and co-founder of Palmer Energy Technology (PETL); the same Andy Palmer who launched the Nissan Leaf and ran Aston Martin. The Corley data shows ‘what good engineering looks like in practice’, he said, and that the grid connection problem ‘isn’t going away quickly’.
“What InstaVolt has understood is that you don’t have to wait for it to be solved centrally before you invest,” added Palmer. “Store cheap overnight power in batteries, draw it down during peak hours, pass the saving to the driver. That’s not complicated, it’s just disciplined infrastructure thinking.”
Having left Aston Martin, Palmer focused on executive roles firmly in the EV industry. Amid Britishvolt falling into administration in January 2023 – it was liquidated the following year with the site at Blyth sold for redevelopment as a data centre campus – Palmer told the New Statesman: “You’ve got to get out of these silos when looking at how you fund batteries. Batteries are the new oil, you’ve got to fund it in that way.”
This is where PETL comes in – or at least, one of its partners. Earlier this week, the company announced a ‘significant expansion’ of its relationship with First Bus; the latter is a lead investor in PETL. The centrepiece of the project is PETL’s largest project to date, a full turnkey delivery of a 4.2MWh, 2.15MW BESS and transformer at First Bus’s Aberdeen site. The Aberdeen project, according to David Seaton, head of construction at First Bus, is particularly exciting ‘because it demonstrates the kind of innovative, lower-carbon infrastructure solutions that will be needed to support the transition to net zero transport.’
