A £20 million government-backed pilot scheme is aiming to support the growth of the electrical vehicle (EV) industry with the development of 1,000 new public chargepoints.
The pilot is part of the £450 million Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) scheme, and will pool the collective knowledge of industry experts and local authorities to develop commercial EV charging infrastructure for residents across nine counties in the UK.
This includes Barnet, Dorset, Durham, Kent, Midlands Connect (with Lincolnshire as a lead authority), North Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Suffolk and Warrington.
As such, the counties will gain commercial EV charging infrastructure including faster on-street chargepoints to larger petrol station-style charging hubs.
“We want to expand and grow our world-leading network of EV chargepoints, working closely with industry and local government, making it even easier for those without driveways to charge their electric vehicles and support the switch to cleaner travel,” said Trudy Harrison, decarbonisation minister.
“This scheme will help to level up electric vehicle infrastructure across the country, so that everyone can benefit from healthier neighbourhoods and cleaner air.”
The scheme will support members of the public without driveways by having better access to EV charging. The project will also develop the infrastructure required for the rapid rollout of EVs in the nation in light of the internal combustion engine (ICE) ban from 2030.
The pilot is backed by £10 million of government funding shared among the nine winning local authorities in the first tranche of the planned £450 million scheme, with winning pilot bids supported by an additional £9 million in private funding. A further £1.9 million will come from public funds across local authorities.
“It is essential that more on-street chargers are delivered to boost the transition to zero emission vehicles for those without home charging,” said Edmund King, president of the AA.
“The injection of an extra £20 million funding will help bring power to electric drivers across England from Durham to Dorset. This is one further positive step on the road to electrification.”
LEVI builds on the success of the on-street residential chargepoint scheme (ORCS) which has seen nearly 2,900 chargepoints installed so far with funding provided for approaching 10,000 additional chargepoints in the future. However the AA expressed that more must be done to boost on-street charging.
Data released by the Department for Transport revealed that only 107 local authorities across the UK have successfully applied for the on-street residential chargepoint scheme (ORCS).
In order to expand the EV charging infrastructure, the AA called for an urgent increase of on-street charging to help the 40% of households without a driveway, parking space or garage take part in the transition to electric cars.
EV charging will be crucial in growing the market with just 2,869 on-street chargers currently installed under the ORC Scheme, while funding for a further 9,543 has been approved and will be delivered in the coming years as the EV market continues to grow.
Despite this, charging infrastructure is still sporadic across the country and has led to several blackout zones. The new project helps to alleviate some of these blackout areas and provide the EV charging industry with a much-needed boost.