Bannau Brycheiniog National Park adds 16 new EV chargers through BMW scheme

Bannau Brycheiniog National Park has become the UK’s latest national park to open a new wave of EV chargers for staff and visitors.

Sixteen new charge points have gone live across two locations in the Welsh national park, formerly known as Brecon Beacons National Park.

The new chargers are split evenly between Bannau Brycheiniog National Park’s Visitor Centre in Libanus and Craig-y-Nos Country Park. The installation means EV drivers can now top up their batteries while enjoying the mountains, rivers, dark skies and wildlife of another national park.

The latest installation is the most recent milestone for the Recharge in Nature project – an initiative funded by BMW UK and facilitated by National Parks Partnerships, to make EV chargers available across all 15 of the UK’s national parks.

The extra charging capacity supports the use of EVs by those who live and work in the national parks. The new charge points in Bannau Brycheiniog come just one month after both of Yorkshire’s national parks were able to install 18 new charge-points, thanks to the Recharge in Nature partnership.

The installation process was spearheaded by Kevin Booker, IT systems and fleet manager at Bannau Brycheiniog National Park. He said: “Over four million people visit Bannau Brycheiniog National Park each year, and we know around 93 per cent of visits to UK national parks are done so by car. It’s our responsibility to ensure the conservation of our beautiful Bannau Brycheiniog National Park and so we’re delighted to be able to support zero emission car journeys while driving here.”

In addition to managing the EV installation project at Bannau Brycheiniog National Park, Kevin is among the most successful ‘hypermilers’ in the UK and holds four Guinness World Record titles for his ability to optimise the range and charge of electric vehicles.

Graham Biggs, corporate communications director at BMW UK, said: “We’re so pleased to see this latest expansion of the EV charging network go live as part of our Recharge in Nature partnership. This means EV drivers can explore this outstanding national park with greater confidence and with no driving emissions. We hope this new infrastructure will support visitors, as well as those living and working at Bannau Brycheiniog National Park.”