Highland Perthshire Cycling (HPC), in partnership with Bosch, has installed a series of e-bike charging stations across Highland Perthshire. The locations lie within a network of cycling trails that has been put together for the Perthshire Gravel project.
Chargers for Bosch batteries can now be found at Comrie Croft, near Comrie; Highland Safaris in Dull, near Aberfeldy; Escape Route Café in Pitlochry; and Birnam Arts café in Birnam/Dunkeld.
HPC says the fast charger will give you approximately 50% charge in one hour or a full charge from flat in about three hours.
You can find a map and more info here.
Highland Perthshire is criss-crossed with many estate and forestry trails and the Perthshire Gravel project is an effort to provide clear information about the various routes.
Speaking to Heartland about the project, Trustee of Highland Perthshire Cycling Mike Stead said: “So we have now completed the first phase of the perthshiregravel.com project where we have mapped about a dozen shorter loops and then one big loop of 200 miles, which is a multiday bike-packing experience.
“The shorter loops are spread around four locations throughout Highland Perthshire – so that’s Comrie, Aberfeldy, Pitlochry and Dunkeld – so people can start and finish from any of those locations. And then the bigger loop passes through all of them and is, as I said, 200 miles long so people can spread it out over a number of days.”
Describing the e-bike charging stations, he said: “They’re cabinets that go into businesses and hotels. Imagine something half the size of a coke machine and it’s got six lockers in it and the lockers are kind of similar to what you might get at a swimming pool or gym.
“So you take your battery off your e-bike – so your bike’s locked up outside the café or hotel – you take the battery off, take it inside, put it in the cabinet and start charging it up.”
Stead highlights the fact that the battery is secure. “And then you’re free for an hour or two to have a nice lunch, or morning or afternoon tea, go and visit local shops, maybe stock up on food if you’re camping or go to local museums or other visitor attractions.
“So it gets people to stop longer, it brings them into centralised locations where we will be putting up these stations and it’s more of an opportunity to then have people build an itinerary where they can travel from place to place and not worry about charging their bike on the way.”