Instavolt boosts five more charging sites with battery storage technology
Charging operator Instavolt has added large-scale battery storage to five more of its locations as part of a push to improve charging provision and cut prices.
The new sites, which have all gone live in the last two months are part of a programme to expand Instavolt’s battery energy storage system (BESS) to at least 25 more sites before the end of the year.
The firm says that by using batteries to store energy it can offer drivers cheaper charging and more consistent high-speed performance.
The systems, which cost £500,000 per location, allow the operator to buy and store energy during cheap off-peak overnight periods, then use it to power its chargers during expensive daytime peaks. It says it passes these savings directly to drivers in the form of a 70p/kWh peak-time rate and 11 hours of 55p/kWh off-peak charging each day.
At its Winchester hub, in March 91% of all energy sold was delivered during peak hours between 7am and 8pm, even though 89% of energy purchased from the grid was during off-peak hours and stored in the batteries. At the flagship site, the BESS is backed up by solar panels which, in March, contributed 42,000kWh of power.
Delvin Lane, CEO of Instavolt, said battery storage was one of “the most powerful tools” for accelerating the switch to electric.
He said: “It lets us deploy faster, manage our costs more effectively, and pass genuine savings on to drivers. When you factor in standing charges, VAT, and the full weight of infrastructure costs, passing savings on to drivers is not the easy option. It is the right one, and it is what we are committed to doing.”
As well as cheaper energy, Instavolt says the batteries help ensure that the chargers can deliver their full potential even when grid connection delays are slowing delivery. At its Corley Services sites it has seen the energy delivered per session has increased by between 22% and 33% since adding BESS.
Dr Andy Palmer, CEO and founder of BESS specialists, Palmer Energy Technology, said: “The grid connection problem is real and it 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. 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.
“The Corley data tells you everything you need to know: a 33% increase in energy delivered per session because drivers can actually charge at the speed the hardware is capable of. That’s what good engineering looks like in practice.”
Instavolt now has eight sites with BESS thanks to the latest installations and plans for 20 more this year and at least eight more in 2027.
