British Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps has written to local authorities urging them to take advantage of the GBP5m (US$6.4m) on offer to build up electric car charging infrastructure and increase local access to charge-points for drivers.
The letter comes as the Department for Transport (DfT) publishes a league table of data illustrating public electric car charging infrastructure available across the UK and highlighting gaps in provision.
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The data shows London is currently leading electric vehicle infrastructure nationally, with almost 4,000 public electric vehicle charging devices installed in the region. Scotland has more than 1,500 charging devices, with the North West, South East and South West regions just behind.
In these regions, Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool and Milton Keynes are amongst the best performing local authorities.
There are now more charging locations than petrol stations, but there are still more than 100 local authorities with fewer than 10 public charging devices per 100,000 population. There are 15,000 charging devices across the UK, equating to 22,500 places to charge.
“Your postcode should play no part in how easy it is to use an electric car and I’m determined electric vehicles become the new normal for drivers,” said Shapps.
“It’s good news there are now more charging locations than petrol stations, but the clear gaps in provision are disappointing. I urge local councils to take advantage of all the government support on offer to help ensure drivers in their area don’t miss out.
“To help increase the provision of charging locations, the government is offering grants for the installation of charge-points on the street, in work and at home. We are also offering grants to lower the upfront cost of these cars so everyone is able to experience the benefits.”
Funding for electric vehicle charge-points remains available in 2019/20 through schemes including the:
- On-street residential charge-point scheme (GBP5m)
- Workplace charging scheme (GBP500 per charge-point socket and GBP10,000 per business)
- Electric vehicle home-charge scheme (GBP500 per charge-point socket)
The government has also recently announced a GBP400m charging infrastructure investment fund, which aims to catalyse private investment in charging infrastructure and is consulting on requiring charge-points be built into all new homes with a parking space.
