IN Brief:
- MFG EV Power has activated Hubject Plug&Charge across around 2,000 UK rapid and ultra-rapid charge points.
- The integration uses ISO 15118 for automatic vehicle-to-charger authentication.
- The rollout covers chargers from 50kW to 400kW across more than 500 UK sites.
MFG EV Power has activated Plug&Charge functionality across around 2,000 rapid and ultra-rapid charge points in the UK through integration with Hubject’s infrastructure.
The activation went live on 1 May 2026 and covers charging sites across MFG’s nationwide estate. The network includes chargers rated from 50kW to 400kW and spans more than 500 UK locations. The integration uses the ISO 15118 standard to allow compatible electric vehicles to authenticate automatically when connected to a charger.
Plug&Charge removes the need for a separate app, RFID card, or manual payment step at the point of connection. The system relies on digital certificate exchange between the vehicle and the charging infrastructure, with Hubject managing the underlying authentication framework. The user interaction moves from a separate payment interface to the vehicle-charger communications layer.
MFG EV Power is part of Motor Fuel Group, the UK’s largest independent forecourt operator. MFG operates more than 1,200 forecourt sites and has committed more than £400m to its EV charging strategy, targeting more than 3,000 ultra-rapid chargers across roughly 500 sites by 2030. Its estate was expanded in 2024 through the acquisition of 337 Morrisons petrol forecourts, adding further supermarket car park and forecourt development locations.
The deployment sits at the intersection of high-power electrical infrastructure, payment systems, communications protocols, and customer-facing reliability. Ultra-rapid charging sites require substantial grid connections, power electronics, metering, protection, thermal management, and backend software. As charging hubs become larger, the performance of the digital layer increasingly affects operational availability alongside the physical charger hardware.
ISO 15118 adoption is a key development in that shift. The standard enables vehicle-to-grid communication functions, including secure identification and automatic authorisation. Plug&Charge is often discussed in terms of convenience, but its wider function is interoperability. A large-scale network activation tests how vehicles, charge point operators, roaming platforms, and payment systems interact under real operating conditions.
The UK public charging market has expanded quickly, while reliability, access, and payment consistency remain recurring challenges. High-power hubs are now being deployed at motorway services, retail locations, forecourts, fleet depots, and destination sites, often with different ownership and software models. Standardised authentication can reduce friction where certificates, roaming agreements, charger firmware, and payment systems remain aligned.
The integration also supports future smart charging functions. As EV volumes rise, charge point operators will need to coordinate demand with grid capacity, site constraints, tariffs, and local network conditions. Secure digital communication between vehicle and charger is a foundation for those services, even where the immediate application is automatic session authentication.
MFG’s rollout gives Plug&Charge a large UK rapid-charging footprint. The next phase for the market will depend on how consistently the standard works across vehicle brands, software updates, roaming platforms, and charger models. Public charging is now a power infrastructure business with a digital identity layer attached; weak performance in either part affects the whole system.
