News & Features

Major EV Charging Investment

Posted in General News on Thursday, February 11th, 2021

The Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps has pledged an investment of £20 million to aid the installation of more government supported electric vehicle (EV) chargers. It is hoped that this investment will double the number of government supported EV chargers in the UK to almost 8,000.

The Department for Transport (DfT) encouraged local authorities to take advantage of the On-street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) which has benefited over 140 projects to date. Grant Shapps commented: “With a world-leading charging network, we’re making it easier for more people to switch to electric vehicles, creating healthier neighbourhoods and cleaning up our air as we build back greener.” Motorists who do not have access to off street charging facilities (40% of English and Welsh residents) will be somewhat encouraged by this announcement. However, a report published by the think tank, Policy Exchange indicates that the UK will require another 365,000 EV chargers in order to be ready for 2030. The think tank believes that the annual rate at which charge points are being installed needs to increase fivefold from around 7,000  to around 35,000 over the next decade. The report’s author, Ed Birkett suggested the government should focus its attention on the areas where it “isn’t delivering enough public charge points, including the north west of England, Yorkshire and Northern Ireland”. He went on to say: “Companies are rolling out chargepoints at a record rate, but there’s a risk that some areas of the country won’t get enough chargepoints and will be left behind”.

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