The government has doubled funding for the installation of on-street EV charging points.
This morning transport secretary Grant Shapps announced that the on-street residential chargepoint scheme will see its funding pot doubled by an additional £2.5 million, finance which will support more than 1,000 more on-street chargepoints.
The fund was established in 2017 in a bid to support EV adoption by facilitating the install of publicly accessible EV charging infrastructure for drivers without off-street parking, an issue particularly pertinent for users in metropolitan areas.
The fund initially offered £1.5 million of funding for use in 2017/18, followed by an additional £4.5 million for use in 2018/19 and 2019/20, supporting 75% of the capital costs of procuring and installing on-street charge points, with a project cap of £7,500.
The Department for Transport has now taken the decision to double the funding point, and transport secretary Grant Shapps said that it was vital that EV drivers could be confident about the availability of chargepoints near their homes.
“That’s why we are now doubling the funding available for local authorities to continue building the infrastructure we need to super-charge the zero emission revolution – right across the country,” he said.
On-street charging has proven to be a particular area of interest for the EV infrastructure scene, but the government’s funding scheme has not been without its critics.
Last year it was revealed that just five councils had taken advantage of the scheme, prompting ministers at the time to write to councils urging them to embrace the fund.
But the Local Government Association hit back at transport ministers by stating that it was not the responsibility of already cash-strapped councils to “replace petrol stations”.
Installs have, however, picked up. To date, DfT has claimed that 16 local authorities have committed to install 1,200 chargepoints under the scheme.