Thousands more electric chargepoints thanks to new funding

Electric vehicle drivers will benefit from thousands more electric chargepoints across England thanks to £56m in government and private funding. 

A total of 2,400 chargepoints will be installed in the ‘short term’ as an expansion of the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) pilot to cover 16 new areas. 

Technology and Decarbonisation Transport Minister Jesse Norman said: ‘The government is giving local authorities across England additional help today to energise their chargepoint roll-out plans. 

‘Today’s commitment will lead to thousands of new chargers being installed, and plans for tens of thousands extra in due course, so that more people than ever can make the transition to using EVs.’

Alongside expanding existing LEVI trials in North Yorkshire, Durham and Barnet, new trials will also begin in locations including West Sussex, West Midlands and Harborough. 

The other locations are: Buckinghamshire, Cumbria, Hackney, Hounslow, Lancashire, Norfolk, Oxfordshire, Rotherham, Sunderland, Waltham Forest, Warwickshire, and York. 

Central government funds account for £22m of the pilot funding whilst industry partners are contributing £17m and a further £2m comes from public funds across local authorities. 

Expansion of the LEVI pilot scheme is also joined by the launch of the £8m LEVI Capability Fund to help local authorities gain the ‘skills and ambition’ to scale up charging plans and work with private businesses to grow local networks. 

A £7m boost will also be given to the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme which is already responsible for the installation of 3,000 chargepoints with ‘a further 10,000 in the pipeline.’ 

Tier 1 local authorities, or partnerships and consortiums led by one, will receive a letter alerting them of their eligibility for the LEVI Capability Fund and they can find out more information on the gov.uk website here. 

The future of electric vehicle charging was also recently explored in the UK’s first wireless taxi rank trial in Nottingham which saw electric taxis fitted with specialist equipment.

Photo by Andrew Roberts