Things We Love: Arup’s Modular Ev Forecourt

In cities like Melbourne and Sydney where many rail cottages and terrace houses were built without garaging, in an increasingly electric world, how do people with electric cars charge their vehicles?

There’s chargers here and there, in supermarkets, shopping malls and the like, but, even fast charging times range from 15 minutes to half an hour to get the battery to 80%, there’s a lot of down time for users.

The Electric Forecourt® is a new generation of filling station conceived out of extensive research undertaken by Arup’s architects in collaboration with GRIDSERVE, into the limitations and frustrations with existing charging infrastructure.

Arup’s design offers exceptional customer service and an optimal charging configurations. The idea centres around users recharging their vehicles and themselves, while they wait, a charging experience that is simple and free of anxiety. The range of suggested facilities depending on location include coffee shops, fresh food outlets, convenience supermarket, co-working or gym spaces and airport-style lounge with high-speed internet.

The concept has been developed into a kit of parts strategy – modular construction aligns with the key principles of the project – to be clean, green and future proof. The design can be tailored to suit different locations and spatial layout has been considered to prioritise zoning which can adapt and change over time.

Arup has recognised that for electric vehicle to be adopted in an accelerated manner, ensuring a holistic user experience to cater for users and delivering the confidence people need to make the switch to electric transport today. Modular construction is a natural fit for a project that’s ultimate goal is net-zero carbon world – not only do they have inherently exceptional thermal performance, following the delivery of 272 modules for the Centres for National Resilience in 2021, Modscape found that 90.47% of all waste was recycled – a huge win for the environment!