Following the news that Source East, a charging network supported by the English government’s Plugged in Places program, will be shutting down at the end of March, charging provider NewMotion has offered to incorporate Source East’s chargers into its own network and to replace legacy charging points (some of which are outdated and/or non-functional) with state-of-the-art smart chargers, free of charge.

The company has not said whether Source East’s owners have responded to its proposal.

NewMotion, which operates a network of 40,000 charging points across Europe, “wants to pull the plug on the monopolization trend in the UK charge market and create an open network that anyone can use, at any time, with any charge card.”

“We believe EV drivers are best serviced by having seamless access to any EV charge network, regardless of the owner or operator,” said Sander van der Veen, NewMotion’s UK Country Manager. “It is for this reason that we operate an open network policy, in which we offer competing network operators access to our charge points. Furthermore, NewMotion EV drivers that wish to use our network can do so without paying any monthly subscription fees, unlike various other network providers.”

“We are aware that the current charging infrastructure in [Source East’s] region largely consists of legacy equipment and a mix of two or three charge point manufacturers. NewMotion is aiming to replace any legacy equipment and where possible integrate the remaining into our network. We can supplement this by offering Rapid Chargers on strategic locations.”

Source: NewMotion