North York Moors and Zest open new National Park EV chargers

Visitors to the North York Moors National Park will now find it even easier to charge their EV thanks to new charging facilities.

The North York Moors National Park Authority has opened the first of 12 new charge points at its car park at Hutton le Hole as part of a partnership with local charging firm Zest. Work is also set to begin on new devices in Newton under Roseberry to further improve the National Park’s provision.

Leeds-based Zest has jointly funded the project alongside the National Park authority and will operate and maintain the fast chargers as part of the partnership.

Lucas St John, commercial manager for the National Park Authority, said: “The introduction of EV charging points to the National Park has marked a significant step forward in terms of reducing carbon emissions in the North York Moors and we are delighted to see them rolled out across two more of our car parks.

“Hutton le Hole and Roseberry Topping are much-loved visitor destinations, so it’s really important that we provide facilities like EV charging to accommodate people now and in the future.”

The new devices’ rollout comes just months after a separate project backed by BMW added 18 new chargers across the North York Moors and neighbouring Yorkshire Dales National Parks. It also follows on from work by Zest and North Yorkshire Council last year to increase public charging provision Helmsley, Malton, and Pickering.

North Yorkshire Council’s corporate director of environment, Karl Battersby, said: “The offer of electric vehicle charging infrastructure is vital to those working in, living in, and visiting our beautiful county.

“Each year millions of visitors flock to the North York Moors, and this increased footfall means we need to be prepared for a larger number of electric vehicles.

“Last year we adopted a new county-wide strategy to make electric vehicle charging available to all. We hope an enhanced network of charging points will support the uptake of electric vehicles over the next 10 years and help to tackle climate change.”

Zest Founder and CEO, Robin Heap, added: “For a smooth transition to EV we need to invest in charging facilities at all the places where people naturally park, including popular rural destinations like National Parks. Our partnership with North York Moors shows the power of investing in the future, and that rural areas can play a key role in reducing carbon emissions and improving air quality.”