News

Funding for EV chargepoints to double to £10m next year

The Department for Transport has today (Jan 21) announced that funding for on-street chargepoints will be doubled to help boost the electric vehicle revolution.

The Transport Secretary and the Office for Low Emission Vehicles are doubling funding for residential chargepoints to £10m next year.

The money could see another 3,600 chargepoints installed across the country and enable those without an off-street parking space to charge at home and overnight.

New plans have also been set out to ensure drivers can easily access real-time information about places to charge their electric car. This will include notifying users if chargepoints are currently in use, or out of order, with a view to allow developers to incorporate this information into sat navs/apps.

The government is working to make public chargepoint information, including locations and power ratings more accessible than ever and in standard format for the first time.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps said:

“We want to make electric cars the new normal, and ensuring drivers have convenient places to charge is key to that.

“By doubling funding again for chargepoints on streets where people live and opening up data, we are helping drivers easily locate and use affordable, reliable chargepoints whether at home or on the road.”

So far, there has been 17,000 devices installed, providing over 24,000 publicly available chargepoints, of which over 2,400 are rapid chargepoints.

Industry has also been challenged to provide debit and credit payment at all newly installed rapid chargepoints, making electric vehicles a more accessible and convenient option than ever before.

Responding to the news, Cllr David Renard, the Local Government Association’s transport spokesman, said:

“Electric vehicles play an important role in improving air quality and reducing dependency on fossil fuels as well as improving the health of our residents and the environment in our local communities.

“Councils are already supporting the roll-out of electric car charging infrastructure and want to work with government to deliver the infrastructure needed for more electric vehicles.

“For councils to do more to improve air quality and tackle climate change, the Government needs to also look at all aspects of transport, including demand management, and the role of public transport, cycling and walking. It’s also vital that the forthcoming Budget delivers long-term funding for local government so councils can play a full role in revolutionising the way we travel.”