Q-Park are delighted to confirm that Port have expanded their ‘Dark Hub’ at Q-Park Leicester Square in the heart of Central London.
Q-Park are delighted to confirm that Port have expanded their ‘Dark Hub’ at Q-Park Leicester Square in the heart of Central London.
Back in 2022, technology company Port launched the world’s first ‘dark hub’ – a group of state-of-the-art electric vehicles, locked and charged in dedicated docking stations deployed in an inner city, off-street parking site - that empowered London’s last-mile industry to switch to electric and reduce its vast carbon footprint. The mobility-as-a-service dark hub concept enables individual couriers or delivery firms to rent small delivery EVs (including electric bikes, cargo ebikes, mopeds or scooters) from a Port urban car park location. EVs are hired on a weekly or monthly subscription through the Port app, and the vehicle, parking, charging, maintenance and software are all provided by Port. Once the courier has picked the vehicle from the hub at any time, they undertake their deliveries before returning the EV to the hub at the end of their working day. The vehicle is locked, parked and charged overnight and then ready to be rented the next day. The long range and battery capabilities of the EV means it can be used for an entire day of work.
Q-Park have operated the Leicester Square parking facility since 2014 and it has an excellent reputation for providing convenient parking right in the heart of Westminster. The car park is just off the famous Leicester Square itself and is also a short walk away from Trafalgar Square. The facility is popular for those working nearby but also heavily utilised by tourists visiting London’s main attractions including West End Theatres. Q-Park is also at the forefront of the European parking industry in the creation of Mobility Hubs. The aim is to evolve parking facilities to become vital instruments to help realise urban accessibility, sustainability and liveability. In addition to car parking, Q-Park aims to provide access for shared mobility schemes, rapid electric fleet charging, last mile delivery and retail spaces all housed within their safe and secure multi-purpose parking facilities.
The ‘Dark Hub’ has been so successful for Port that they have taken the decision to expand to increase their capacity with more delivery vehicles available for their clients. The Port ‘Dark Hub’ allows courier companies to remove all their electric fleet parking, charging, maintaining, financing and managing burdens. At a time of courier shortages, the Leicester Square hub has empowered more motorists to enter the industry. It has activated a suburban workforce that was currently untapped by the last-mile delivery industry, as suburban workers are largely unable to cover the long distance between their homes and the city centre by e-bike or moped. This hub enabled them to commute into the city centre and pick up their fully charged vehicle for the day.
John Denton, Head of Commercial at Q-Park added ‘Q-Park are aiming to be the Sustainable Mobility Partner of choice by 2030. Strategic partnerships such as the ‘Dark Hub’ at Leicester Square allow us to provide a real difference for the working people of London.’
To find out more about Q-Park Mobility Hubs click here.
About Q-Park
Q-Park is a leading off-street parking infrastructure owner and operator with well-managed commercial parking facilities across seven western European countries. We operate off-street parking spaces we own, have under concession or with long-term lease contracts from public and private landlords. We focus on off-street purpose-built parking facilities at strategic locations. We operate more than 3,600 parking facilities comprising over 706,000 parking spaces in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium, United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark. Based on publicly available industry data for our competitors, we estimate that we are a top three player, based on the estimated off-street revenues, in all the countries in which we operate. Q-Park also has numerous mobility hubs which provide access to a variety of mobility solutions. We house and support a range of activities from last mile logistics, electric vehicle charging, micromobility and car sharing services which help support urban accessibility, sustainability and liveability.
