Octopus Investments – part of Octopus Group – has announced it is investing £50 million in the Northern Ireland-based electric vehicle (EV) chargepoint operator Weev.
The investment aims to address the shortage of charging infrastructure in Northern Ireland.
Volumes of EV chargepoints in Northern Ireland are disproportionately low in comparison to the rest of the UK, with only 20 public chargepoints per 100,000 people – a third of the UK’s average at 60.
The damaging effect a lack of chargepoints serves for the uptake of EVs in Northern Ireland was highlighted by the Department of Infrastructure in a recent report. Assessing the current attitudes towards EVs in Northern Ireland, the report found that 43% of respondents felt the availability and location of chargepoints served as a disincentive to buy an EV.
In recognition of this disparity and to reassure current or potential EV drivers, the UK Government announced that £3.27 million in funding will be granted to upgrade the EV charging infrastructure in Northern Ireland.
“In a world of rising energy prices, consumers and fleet operators are now thinking more seriously than ever before about switching to an EV to unlock significant cost savings and reduce their carbon footprint. We are helping to enable this switch by breaking down barriers such as range anxiety through access to convenient and reliable EV chargers,” said Philip Rainey, CEO at Weev.
“This investment from Octopus enables a major expansion to the size and scope of the rollout we announced at launch last year. We can now increase our focus on providing more rapid and ultra-rapid charging hubs in response to growing demand from EV drivers. In total, the capital will enable us to install and maintain a network of thousands of EV charging points over the next five years using locally-based teams and expertise.”
This will be the first investment for Octopus Sustainable Infrastructure Fund (OSIF). The strategy was announced in 2022 following “cornerstone investment” from the UK Infrastructure Bank.
“OSIF is focused on investing growth capital into sustainable infrastructure businesses tackling climate change and supporting levelling-up ambitions across the UK. Weev is the perfect example of the next generation of infrastructure companies doing just that. By backing Weev, we see a great opportunity to deliver a positive impact to Northern Ireland’s communities while meeting the financial objectives of the fund,” said Lukasz Michalak, investment director, sustainable infrastructure, at Octopus.
“We have great confidence in the Weev team. Not only have they previously been in charge of various successful infrastructure businesses in Northern Ireland, but they also share our ethos of putting the customer first.”
