National Highways has launched premarket engagement on an charging infrastructure contract valued at £228m that covers the expansion of electric vehicle charge points on the nation's motorway service areas (MSAs).
Developed in partnership with the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles – a joint venture between the Department for Transport and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero – the scheme looks to strengthen the electricity network capacity at motorway service areas (MSAs) to increase the number of ultra-rapid electric vehicle (EV) charging stations.
In support of this, National Highways hopes to contract National Electricity Registration Scheme (NERS) accredited suppliers, which can deliver the electricity extension assets at ‘a subset' of the 116 MSAs in England.
The strategic road authority stated that individual MSAs could require new connection capacity in the range of 5 to 50 megavolt-amperage (MVA) and, depending on the available network capacity and the point of connection offered by the network operator, the extension assets for each site may be at 132kV, 33kV, or 11kV.
Currently, the contract is expected to run from 1 July 2027 to 30 June 2028. Suppliers interested in participating in premarket engagement have until 3 September to review the outline scope of requirements (provided here) and submit their responses here.
National Highways then expects to publish a tender notice on 4 January 2027.
Full details of the notice and how to participate can be found here.
