ZipCharge has revealed its new GoHub portable EV charging infrastructure for shared, public use – said to mark a world-first.

Designed to fit into a single parking space, the GoHub is said to be three times faster and cheaper to install than comparative on-street charging

Launched to coincide with Earth Day 2022, the GoHub follows the launch last year of the company’s lightweight Go power bank and hosts multiple Go EV powerbanks in one compact hub to address the need for convenient, flexible and low-cost energy in a community-based solution.

Able to fit into a single parking space, it’s designed for a wide number of locations, including on-street, in car parks, at work and in private environments and, according to ZipCharge, is three times faster and cheaper to install than comparative on-street charging. This transforms the payback period for AC public charging from 8-10 years to less than two and enables national and local governments to deploy charging at a faster rate.

The hub means anyone can access a portable powerbank. Drivers can either purchase their own Go outright, on subscription or rent one through the GoHub, based on transparent pricing of £1, €1 or $1 for a 4kWh charge with no connection fee. Once the GoHub is accessed, drivers can easily pull out the charger from its dock, wheel it to the vehicle and plug it in. The user is notified on their smartphone when charging is finished and returns the Go to the bay allocated via the app.

The infrastructure works in any location, rural and urban, and can be customised to the needs of the local community.

It’s intended to accelerate the deployment of public charging, particularly in disadvantaged and underrepresented communities – ZipCharge is targeting global deployment of 100,000 GoHubs by 2030.

The GoHub also features more than 100kWh of second-life batteries to store clean energy, recharging Go powerbanks and providing balancing services to the grid.

ZipCharge said the GoHub positions the business as the world’s first ‘energy point operator’ (EPO), providing energy-as-a-service in a future decentralised energy network.

Co-founder Jonathan Carrier said: “We intend to establish the world’s first vertically integrated EPO to serve hundreds of millions of people around the world so everyone can access convenient and low-cost energy. The ZipCharge Go and the GoHub enable the storage of clean energy, which can then be distributed for a multitude of uses from charging an EV to powering equipment.

“We predict our portable powerbanks will outsell fixed home chargers by 2030, in the same way mobile phones overtook landlines. That’s because the Go can be used for more than charging EV charging, it’s a portable energy storage device for personal energy management. We have the bold ambition to deploy 100,000 GoHubs globally by 2030 to support EV charging, local grid resiliency and energy democracy.”

In its base form, the GoHub comes in two variants; a single-sided unit houses five ZipCharge Go portable powerbanks, or a double-sided GoHub accommodates 10. All GoHubs can be intelligently reconfigured, expanded and connected together with minimal investment.

GoHubs will come with a suite of technology support. They will all be networked to the ZipCharge cloud and back-office with energy management and remote monitoring software to ensure operational safety and optimise charging costs and energy use.