Chargemaster Limited (branded as bp pulse, formerly BP Chargemaster, chargemaster, POLAR and Polar Plus) is a supplier of charging infrastructure for

electric vehicles An electric vehicle (EV) is a motor vehicle whose propulsion is powered fully or mostly by electricity. EVs encompass a wide range of transportation modes, including road vehicle, road and rail vehicles, electric boats and Submersible, submer ...

, based in

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...

, England. It provides charging units for home, business and public use, and operates its own electric vehicle

fast charging network A fast charging network, or more specifically an HPC charging network, is a network of publicly accessible fast charging stations for electric vehicles. A fast charging network is a subtype of an electric vehicle charging network.Various providers ...

. Chargemaster was the first company to manufacture electric vehicle rapid chargers in the UK. , the company had supplied more than 30,000 charging points for electric vehicle drivers' homes and more than 10,000 public and commercially operated charging points. The company was founded in 2008 by entrepreneur David Martell. In June 2018, BP announced that it had entered into an agreement to buy Chargemaster for £130m, with the company to be rebranded BP Chargemaster. Further rebranding to 'bp pulse' took place in December 2020.

History

Chargemaster was founded in

Luton Luton () is a town and borough in Bedfordshire, England. The borough had a population of 225,262 at the 2021 census. Luton is on the River Lea, about north-west of London. The town's foundation dates to the sixth century as a Saxon settleme ...

in 2008 by David Martell, the founder and former CEO of

Trafficmaster Teletrac (branded as Teletrac Navman; formerly Trafficmaster) is a software as a service company headquartered in Southern California, with offices in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Mexico. It provides cloud-based GPS fleet tra ...

. Shareholders included the venture capital arm of

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

, BMW i Ventures, and technology company

Qualcomm Qualcomm Incorporated () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software and services related to wireless techn ...

. The company launched its POLAR network of public charging points in 2011. By 2017, the network had over 5,000 public charging points, just under 40% of the total of more than 13,000 charging points in the UK. In 2012, Chargemaster announced its involvement in a trial of

wireless charging Inductive charging (also known as wireless charging or cordless charging) is a type of wireless power transfer. It uses electromagnetic induction to provide electricity to portable devices. Inductive charging is also used in vehicles, power tool ...

for electric vehicles in London, in partnership with Qualcomm. Growth capital, initially £3 million, was invested by Beringea in 2014. Chargemaster launched its POLAR Plus subscription scheme in 2015, allowing members to pay a monthly fee for access to its public charging network, with points earned each time a member uses a public charging point, which could be traded for a week-long experience in one of a fleet of

operated by Chargemaster, including a

BMW i8 The BMW i8 is a plug-in hybrid sports car developed by BMW. The i8 was part of BMW's electrified fleet and was marketed under the BMW i sub-brand. The production version of the BMW i8 was unveiled at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show and was releas ...

and a

Tesla Model S The Tesla Model S is a battery-electric, four-door full-size car produced by the American automaker Tesla since 2012. The automaker's second vehicle and longest-produced model, the Model S has both received mixed reviews from critics and a ...

. Chargemaster acquired

Hereford Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...

-based GB Electrical, a national

electrical contractor An electrical contractor is a business person or business entity, firm that performs specialized construction work related to the design, installation, and maintenance of electrical systems. An electrical contractor is different from an electricia ...

specialising in the installation of electric vehicle charging points, in 2015. The business had been working with Chargemaster since 2013 and is an authorised installer of charging points installed under both the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme and the Workplace Charging Scheme, administered by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles. Following the acquisition, Chargemaster announced a £15 million investment in its charging network to create 2,000 new charging points, which would include new ways to access the points, including

contactless payment Contactless payment systems are credit cards and debit cards, key fobs, smart cards, or other devices, including smartphones and other mobile devices, that use radio-frequency identification (RFID) or near-field communication (NFC) for making sec ...

s, alongside existing access methods of

RFID Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder called a tag, a radio receiver, and a transmitter. When tri ...

cards and

smartphone apps A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on des ...

. In 2017, the company acquired the electric vehicle charging point supplier Elektromotive, including its charging network management subsidiary, Charge Your Car, to form the UK's largest electric vehicle infrastructure provider. After being acquired by BP in 2018, the company's legal name changed from Chargemaster plc to Chargemaster Limited. Martell retained a board position until June 2019. Later that year, the company moved from Luton to newly built headquarters in the Linford Wood area of

. In December 2020, the POLAR and Chargemaster brands were replaced by 'bp pulse'. Chargemaster has been listed in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100 list of top performing British companies since 2014.

Products

Charging units

Chargemaster supplies wall-mounted charging points and floor-standing charging posts with AC

power rating In electrical engineering and mechanical engineering, the power rating of equipment is the highest power input allowed to flow through particular equipment. According to the particular discipline, the term ''power'' may refer to electrical or ...

s of 3.6 kW, 7.2 kW and 22 kW, and floor-standing rapid chargers, with power ratings of 43kW AC and 50kW DC. The 3.6 kW and 7.2 kW charging units require a minimum

single-phase In electrical engineering, single-phase electric power (abbreviated 1φ) is the distribution of alternating current electric power using a system in which all the voltages of the supply vary in unison. Single-phase distribution is used when loads ...

electricity supply. The 22 kW and rapid charging units require a

three-phase Three-phase electric power (abbreviated 3ϕ) is a common type of alternating current (AC) used in electricity generation, Electric power transmission, transmission, and Electric power distribution, distribution. It is a type of polyphase system ...

electricity supply. Chargemaster launched a new rapid charger in 2015, which is produced in its Milton Keynes factory. The Chargemaster 'Ultracharge' unit features a 50 kW-rated

chademo CHAdeMO is a electric vehicle charging, fast-charging system for battery electric vehicles, developed in 2010 by the CHAdeMO Association, formed by the Tokyo Electric Power Company and five major Japanese automakers. The name is an abbreviation o ...

connector, a 43kW-rated AC Type 2 connector and a 50 kW-rated CCS connector. Chargemaster installed their first 150 kW rapid charger in 2019; these chargers are supplied by

ABB ABB Group is a Swedish-Swiss multinational electrical engineering corporation. Incorporated in Switzerland as ABB Ltd., and headquartered in Zurich, it is dual-listed on the Nasdaq Nordic exchange in Stockholm, Sweden, and the SIX Swiss Excha ...

and feature both

CHAdeMO CHAdeMO is a electric vehicle charging, fast-charging system for battery electric vehicles, developed in 2010 by the CHAdeMO Association, formed by the Tokyo Electric Power Company and five major Japanese automakers. The name is an abbreviation o ...

and CCS connectors. Chargemaster aims to have 400 of these chargers at BP forecourts.

Home charging

Chargemaster has partnerships to provide home charging units for owners of electric vehicles made by several manufacturers, including

Kia Kia Corporation (, formerly known as Kyungsung Precision Industry (京城精密工業) and Kia Motors Corporation) is a South Korean multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It is South Korea's second larges ...

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group traces its origins to the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company that existed from 1870 to 194 ...

Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

, and

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

. The company is also the home charging partner for

The London Taxi Company Carbodies was a taxi design and manufacturing company based in Coventry, England. In its latter years it also traded as London Taxis International and The London Taxi Company. It operated a coachbuilding business on Holyhead Road, Coventry. ...

and provides charging units for drivers of its TX eCity

plug-in hybrid A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) or simply plug-in hybrid is a type of hybrid electric vehicle equipped with a rechargeable battery pack that can be directly replenished via a charging cable plugged into an external electric power so ...

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...

. The company's home charging units are approved by the UK government's Office for Zero Emission Vehicles and are eligible for the government's Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme, which provides funding of up to 75% (capped at £350) towards the cost of installing electric vehicle charge points at domestic properties across the UK.

Workplace charging

Chargemaster supplies charge points to workplaces, including supermarkets,

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

and other businesses. The company's workplace charging units are approved by the UK government's Office for Zero Emission Vehicles and are eligible for the government's Workplace Charging Scheme, which subsidises the cost of the purchase and installation of electric vehicle charge points, for eligible businesses, charities and public sector organisations.

Public sector charging

Chargemaster has installed over 600 charge points for more than 50

. In 2016, Chargemaster was awarded a £2.3 million contract to provide additional charging points in Milton Keynes, including for two new petrol-station-style rapid charging hubs. In 2017, Chargemaster was awarded a contract to supply its Ultracharge rapid charger under a

transport for london Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...

contract to provide public rapid charging points for

's forthcoming TX eCity

. The £18 million Transport for London project aimed to create a network of 300 rapid charging points in London by 2020.

Brands

Pulse public charging network

The company operates 'bp pulse', one of the largest

electric vehicle charging network An electric vehicle charging network is an infrastructure system of charging stations to recharge electric vehicles. The term electric vehicle infrastructure (EVI) may refer to charging stations in general or the network of charging stations ...

s in the UK. , the network has over 8,000 charge points of which over 3,000 are described as "high speed". The network is accessible via either a pay-as-you-go 'instant access' scheme or a monthly subscription scheme, with charging points accessed via an

card or fob. Prior to December 2020, the schemes were marketed as 'POLAR Instant' and 'POLAR Plus' respectively. Owners of

BMW i The BMW i is a sub-brand of BMW founded in 2011 to design and manufacture plug-in electric vehicles. The company initially released two vehicles: the BMW i3, i3 all-electric car and the BMW i8, i8 plug-in hybrid. From 2020, BMW began electrify ...

models can access the network through membership of the BMW i ChargeNow service.

Charge Your Car

The Charge Your Car subsidiary provides "back office" services to charge point owners, in many cases local authorities. CYC handles user registration and billing, and provides a map of charge points, but does not own or maintain the equipment.

Electric Vehicle Experience Centre

In 2017, Chargemaster won the contract from

Council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

to operate the UK's first multi-brand

electric car An electric car or electric vehicle (EV) is a passenger car, passenger automobile that is propelled by an electric motor, electric traction motor, using electrical energy as the primary source of propulsion. The term normally refers to a p ...

showroom A plumbing fixture showroom, Canada, 1921 A showroom is a large space used to display products or show entertainment. Marketing location A showroom is a large space used to display products for sale, such as automobiles, furniture, appliances ...

, the Electric Vehicle Experience Centre, as part of the

UK government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

’s Go Ultra Low Cities programme.

Partnerships

Chargemaster has partnerships with

car manufacturers Automobile manufacturers are companies and organizations that produce motor vehicles. Many of these companies are still in business, and many of the companies are defunct. Only companies that have articles on Wikipedia are included in this list. ...

, hotels, supermarkets and

motor industry The automotive industry comprises a wide range of companies and organizations involved in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, selling, repairing, and modification of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest industries by ...

organisations, including:

The AA AA Limited, trading as The AA, is a British motoring association. Founded in 1905, it provides vehicle insurance, Driver's education, driving lessons, breakdown cover, loans, motoring advice, road maps and other services. The association Demut ...

, Q Park,

Waitrose Waitrose Limited, trading as Waitrose & Partners, is a British supermarket chain, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. In 1937, it was acquired by the John Lewis Partnership, the UK's largest employee-owned b ...

, and

Accor Accor S.A. is a French multinational hospitality company that owns, manages and franchises hotels, resorts and vacation properties. It is the largest hospitality company in Europe, and the sixth largest hospitality company worldwide. Accor ope ...

for its

Novotel Novotel is a French midscale hotel brand owned by Accor. Created in 1967 in France, the company grew into what became the Accor group in 1983, and Novotel remained a pillar brand of Accor's multi-brand strategy. Novotel manages 559 hotels in 65 ...

and

Ibis The ibis () (collective plural ibises; classical plurals ibides and ibes) are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae that inhabit wetlands, forests and plains. "Ibis" derives from the Latin and Ancient Greek word f ...

hotel brands. Chargemaster installed 78 charge points for the

London Fire Brigade The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is the Fire department, fire and rescue service for London, the capital of the United Kingdom. It was formed by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act 1865 (28 & 29 Vict. c. 90), under the leadership of superintendent ...

, the majority of which are accessible by its staff, but nine of which (at

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

East Ham East Ham is a district of the London Borough of Newham, England, 8 miles (12.8 km) east of Charing Cross. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Essex, East Ham is identified in the London Plan as a ...

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Finchley Finchley () is a large district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. north of Charing Cross, nearby districts include: Golders Green, Muswell Hill, Friern Barnet, Whetstone, London, Whetstone, Mill Hill and Hendon. It is ...

, Hainault,

Harold Hill Harold Hill is a suburban area in the London Borough of Havering, East London. northeast of Charing Cross. It is a district centre in the London Plan. The name refers to King Harold II, who held the manor of Havering-atte-Bower, and who wa ...

Hornsey Hornsey () is a district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Haringey. It is an inner-suburban, for the most part residential, area centred north of Charing Cross. It adjoins green spaces Queen's Wood to the west and Alexand ...

Ilford Ilford is a large List of areas of London, town in East London, England, northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. It had a po ...

and

New Malden New Malden is a suburban area in southwest London, England. It is within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and the London Borough of Merton, and is from Charing Cross. Neighbouring localities include Kingston upon Thames, Kingston, Norb ...

fire station __NOTOC__ A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire apparatus, fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equ ...

s) are publicly accessible. The company is the official supplier of charging infrastructure to the FIA

Formula E Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is an open-wheel single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The racing series is the highest class of competition for electrically powered single-seater racing cars ...

electric motor racing series. Chargemaster facilitates

of the official course cars, including the

safety car In motorsport, a safety car, or a pace car, is a car that limits the speed of competing cars or motorcycles on a racetrack in the case of a ''caution period,'' such as an obstruction on the track or bad weather. The safety car aims to enable the ...

and the

BMW i3 The BMW i3 is an electric car that was manufactured by German marque BMW from 2013 to 2022. The i3 was BMW's first mass-produced zero-emissions vehicle, zero emissions vehicle and was launched as part of BMW's electric vehicle ''BMW i'' sub-bra ...

medical car.

References

External links

* {{BP Charging stations British companies established in 2008 Companies based in Milton Keynes 2018 mergers and acquisitions BP subsidiaries Electric vehicle infrastructure developers