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May 7, 2025 – Zapgo today switched on a new rapid charging station at Cartmel Racecourse in Cumbria, offering six high-speed bays for electric vehicle drivers. Payment is fully contactless, and the first sessions are priced at 50p per kWh as part of a launch promotion.
The site gives the racecourse a practical charging point for the thousands of visitors who travel to one of Cumbria’s best-known sporting venues. It also plugs a gap for drivers heading across the southern Lake District, where rapid chargers are still thin on the ground.
The Zapgo station is built around six rapid charging bays. It has been designed for easy use, with no membership cards or dedicated smartphone app. Drivers can pay on the spot using a contactless debit or credit card, a feature that tends to appeal to people who charge away from home only occasionally.
The launch price of 50p per kWh is noticeably lower than the average public rapid charger in the UK, which often runs far higher. At that rate, a typical EV with a 60 kWh battery would cost about £30 for a near-full charge from almost empty. It also gives local plug-in owners a cheaper alternative to deliberately topping up at Cartmel rather than at more expensive motorway services.
Chargers at the racecourse are placed in the main car park, so access should be straightforward on event days. Because the charger does not depend on a ticket barrier, it can be used outside race days as well, which makes it a useful all-week charging stop for nearby villages like Cartmel, Grange-over-Sands and Allithwaite.
Cartmel Racecourse is perhaps best known for its annual race meetings, but the parkland venue is active for much of the year with weddings, markets and guided day trips. Its location, just outside the village of Cartmel and close to the A590, puts it on a well-used tourist route into the Lake District.
For electric drivers, this is helpful. Many people arrive in the area with a low battery after a long journey from Manchester, Leeds or further south. Having a rapid charger at the racecourse means they can gain enough miles for a day out without hunting for a destination charger.
The installation also makes sense for horse racing fans who travel from across the North West. With racecourse parking available, drivers can plug in for the duration of a meeting and return to a fully charged car. That fits the sort of dwell time that public charging planners want to see.
Zapgo is a UK-based charge point operator that specialises in rapid chargers at venues such as garden centres, theme parks, holiday parks and racecourses. The business model is built around placing chargers where people stop for at least half an hour, rather than only on motorways.
The Cartmel opening adds one more site to that network. It follows a familiar pattern for Zapgo: a medium-sized charging station at a destination, with sensible pricing and easy payment. By avoiding the subscription-only approach used by some networks, it lowers a barrier that has put off many UK drivers.
Zapgo has said in the past that it wants to make charging as simple as refuelling with petrol. Contactless terminals, clear instructions on the unit and prices displayed in advance are all part of that approach. The Cumbria site is in line with those principles, according to the company.
Cumbria has been one of the more difficult areas for EV charging roll-out. The county is large and mostly rural, with a small permanent population and a huge seasonal influx of tourism. Infrastructure investment has traditionally gone to motorway service areas, leaving many market towns and visitor attractions without a reliable rapid charge point.
This has created a “destination charger gap.” Car parks at castles, beaches and national park landmarks often rely on slow or modest speed units. Cartmel Racecourse, with its new rapid bays, sits on the edge of that problem. It is close enough to the M6 junction at Kendal to catch through-traffic, yet far enough from the motorway to serve local communities.
New charge points are nevertheless appearing across the county. Public-private initiatives and local authority plans are encouraging operators to build in less profitable spots. Zapgo’s decision to invest at Cartmel shows that rural destinations can be attractive, especially when they generate visitor numbers throughout the year.
Charge point data from industry trackers shows that the number of public chargers in the UK continues to rise rapidly. However, coverage is uneven. Facilities such as this one at Cartmel help to balance the network, which is particularly important for drivers without home parking. In Cumbria, as in many rural counties, the share of households without off-street parking is substantial, making public charging essential.
Pricing is often the biggest concern for EV drivers, and Zapgo’s opening tariff is clearly aimed at that worry. At 50p per kWh, the cost of a rapid charge at Cartmel sits below the upper end of the UK market. For event visitors, the price is especially competitive when compared with the “park and charge” tariffs found at some tourist sites.
It is not clear from the company's announcement how long the 50p rate will last. Zapgo may increase the tariff after the introductory period. Even then, it is likely to remain within the normal pricing band for British rapid chargers. Drivers should still check the live price screen before plugging in, as prices at public chargers can vary by time of day or by other conditions.
Contactless payment at a rapid charger is a strong advantage for one-off users. There is no membership wheel to sign up for, nor an app to download. For visiting tourists from overseas, it avoids the hassle of registering with a network they will probably not use again.
The opening at Cartmel Racecourse is a modest but meaningful step forward. It is not a giant charging site with dozens of stalls, and it will not transform the infrastructure of Cumbria on its own. But it does provide a practical stop for EV drivers in a part of the country that should be better served.
For racegoers, tourists and residents, the new charger means fewer range worries and more flexibility. It also strengthens the case for other rural destinations to consider installing rapid equipment, rather than relying on a handful of public fast chargers. The move fits with the wider transition away from fossil-fuel transport and towards a system where charging is seamless across the whole country.
Ultimately, Zapgo has delivered what many EV drivers want most: a rapid charger in a useful location, with transparent pricing and no barriers to access. That is a sensible message for the broader industry to take on board.
