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National broadband access provider Openreach (BT) has revealed that they’ve signed a new partnership with EV charging company Source, which is jointly owned by SSE and TotalEnergies, to help support their transition to electric vehicles. The network operator will thus gain access to Source’s growing collection of “ultra-rapid charging hubs” across the UK.
At present Openreach, which manages the second-largest commercial vehicle fleet in the UK (c.23,000 vehicles), is currently aiming to upgrade the “vast majority” of their diesel-powered vans and cars to EVs by the end of March 2031 (supporting their Net Zero target for the same date). So far, they’ve already adopted a total of over 7,000 EVs and rising.
In order to support the transition Openreach have been busy installing EV charging points at operational sites and engineers’ homes (they’ve done more than 4,000 of these) for convenient overnight charging. However, despite the progress, the broadband operator recognises that charging can still be a problem, particularly with around one in three of their engineers being unable to install a home charger.
The company has thus been busy building other partnerships, such as with First Bus, so engineers can charge their vans at First Bus depots, taking pressure off public charging points and making life easier for those who live in flats. A similar deal to the First Bus agreement was recently agreed to harness Sainsbury’s nationwide EV charging network (here) and today’s agreement with Source aims to expand on all that.
Source’s UK sites feature ultra-rapid chargers of up to 300kW, which they say “allow most electric vehicles to ‘charge and go’ in less than 15 minutes“. But it’s worth noting that EV’s don’t all charge at the same rate and charging often slows considerably for the final 20% or so of battery capacity.
Source currently plans to open 300 charging hubs across the UK and Ireland.
Alice Aprile-Smith, Head of Partnerships at Source, said:
“Openreach operates the UK’s second largest commercial fleet and is serious about its transition to electric – that’s exactly the kind of partner we want to be working with. Source is built to deliver ultra-rapid public charging reliably, at scale, across the breadth of the UK. We’re proud to be supporting one of the country’s most ambitious fleet electrification programmes.”
Judy O’Keefe, Director of Fleet at Openreach, said:
“Moving a fleet our size to electric is a big job. Charging needs to be simple, safe and reliable for our engineers. That’s why partnerships like this matter. They give our people fast, flexible charging when they’re out on the road.
“That keeps them moving, so we can keep serving customers and communities right across the UK. And as we switch to electric, we’re already seeing the benefits – cutting emissions, improving air quality and helping create healthier places to live and work. It’s all part of our move to a zero-emissions fleet by 2031 and our wider net zero plans.”
Openreach’s goal is to enable their telecoms engineers to use a mix of home, workplace, depot and public charging, depending on where they live and how they work. The operator is also busy testing “cross‑pavement charging“, which allows people without access to off-street parking to charge their EVs at home by running a cable through a shallow channel (gully) in the public pavement. “A small group of engineers are testing whether these solutions are safe, practical and easy to use,” said Judy in May 2026.