Chargepoint operator (CPO) Believ has inked a strategic partnership with energy infrastructure business Smart Metering Systems (SMS), securing the organisation’s public electric vehicle (EV) charging business.
Believe said the deal, confirmed yesterday (23 September) will “accelerate the deployment of publicly accessible EV charging infrastructure”.
The partnership will continue to draw on SMS’s low-carbon energy infrastructure experience in metering, power network design, delivery, and energy services while benefitting from Believ’s wide-ranging and proven EV charging capabilities.
These encompass the deployment, operation, and maintenance of the ChargePoint network and communications networking, which is provided through the delivery partner Virgin Media O2.
As part of the agreement, 10 employees from SMS will be joining the Believ team to ensure a seamless transition of services for SMS’ current and potential customers. SMS will maintain its provision of metering, delivery, and energy services. Additionally, Believ will establish new offices in Wales and Scotland as it expands its presence across the UK.
Guy Bartlett, Believ CEO, believes that the partnership shows that both companies recognise the urgent need for a faster chargepoint rollout.
“This partnership answers this requirement by combining the ideal skills and expertise to accelerate the scale and pace of the UK’s infrastructure deployment. And crucially, we are well placed to deliver EV charging infrastructure that is of the highest possible standards,” Bartlett said.
“Would-be EV drivers need to see more chargepoints, in the right places and working brilliantly, to make the switch. We’re now in an even better position to deliver on those requirements.”
Earlier this year (24 July), Believ partnered with Awsworth Parish Council in Nottinghamshire to deliver free EV charging for rural locations.
Rural EV charging must be scaled to support the uptake of clean mobility solutions across the country. Research by Cornwall Insight found that the UK needs to more than double the rate at which it is installing publicly available EV chargers in order to hit the UK government’s target of installing 300,000 chargers by 2030, with Jamie Maule, a research analyst at Cornwall Insight noting that “Fear around a lack of chargepoints is a major reason why many people hesitate to switch from traditional vehicles to EVs”.
