By Andy Krimat-Carr

Back in July, we launched the first ever bp pulse EV charging hub at our Cheshunt store, providing M&S customers a convenient place to charge their electric vehicles whilst they shop in store. With 10 bays and a mix of ultra-fast and rapid charging, this was just the beginning of our exciting EV charging hub rollout across the UK, in partnership with bp pulse.

As the Head of Sustainability and Technical Specification in the property team at M&S, I am delighted that we have supercharged our bp EV hub roll out with four charging hubs opened across the country in the last few weeks! New hubs are open now at Handforth and Culverhouse Cross, with bp pulse charging also now available at our New Milton and Chepstow stores.

The new bp pulse ‘hubs’ hold at least six charging bays in one location, offering both 150 kW and 50kW charging speeds. With bp pulse charging at M&S stores across the UK, thousands of drivers can now conveniently charge their vehicles whilst they shop with us across the store, have a bra or suit fitting appointment, or pop into our M&S Café.

Our exclusive agreement with bp pulse is part of our Plan A commitment, shaping our roadmap to becoming a net zero business across our value chain and operations by 2040.

We’re going full throttle with our plan to open even more bp pulse EV charging hubs on our sites, with a further 16 to open in 2025.  

What is most exciting to me - besides the fact that these hubs will make on-the-go charging speedier and more convenient - is that M&S is continuing a solid and long-lasting partnership with bp. It dates all the way back to 2005, when we opened our first M&S Food store on a bp forecourt – and the rest is history.

Today, there are over 300 M&S stores across bp’s network, combining our delicious, quality food with bp’s expertise in convenience. Of these partnership stores, over 150 now have bp pulse charging bays so there’s plenty of opportunities to charge while you shop at M&S – whether you want to do a big shop or need to grab some milk on your way home from work. I couldn’t be prouder of the progress we’ve made and the positive impact it will have on our customers, colleagues and local communities across the UK.

At M&S, we want to support our customers to make the small everyday choices that can make a difference – whether that’s buying our amazing frozen garlic bread made from leftover bread baked in-store, having a coffee from M&S Café in our easily recyclable paper fibre cup or driving an electric car. Partnering with bp pulse to offer super-fast charging at our stores, is just one of the ways we are doing our part to help customers looking to make more sustainable lifestyle choices.  At M&S, we are committed to doing the right thing across our entire business from the way we design the services at our stores to making and sourcing all our products with care. It’s important to us that our colleagues, customers and the communities we serve trust that we do the right thing – and this is certainly a step in the right direction.

I hope you are as thrilled by the opening of all our new bp pulse EV charging hubs as I am, and it’s great to see them already being widely used by our customers and colleagues.

You can find bp pulse charging at our Brooklands, Chepstow, Cheshunt, Culverhouse Cross, Handforth, Maidstone Eclipse,New Milton, Pudsey, Shoreham-by-Sea, Southgate and Torbay stores. Make sure you keep and eye out for updates on future openings across the UK.