Britain has doubled funding for charge-points on residential streets, noting real-time information could also be made available, helping to cut waiting times by showing which power banks are being used.
In future, open data on public charge-points would allow for information to be added to satnavs and travel apps.
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UK Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps said government funding will be doubled to GBP10m (US$13m) for the installation of charge-points on residential streets next year. This could fund up to another 3,600 charge-points across the country and make charging at home and overnight easier for those without an off-street parking space.
The government is also looking at how to make information about all public charge-points including locations and power ratings openly available in a standard format for the first time. The Department for Transport will look at how real-time information could be published, showing whether charge-points are in working order and currently in use, which could then be used by developers and incorporated into satnavs and route mapping apps
“We want to make electric cars the new normal, and ensuring drivers have convenient places to charge is key to that,” said Shapps.
“By doubling funding again for charge-points on streets where people live and opening up data, we are helping drivers locate and use reliable charge-points whether at home or on the road.”
Government and industry have supported the installation of more than 17,000 devices providing 24,000 publicly available charge-points, of which 2,400 are rapid versions. The UK now has one of the largest charging networks in Europe with more locations for charging than there are petrol stations.
The Department for Transport adds government has challenged industry to provide debit and credit card payment at all newly-installed rapid charge-points and develop a roaming solution across the network, allowing electric vehicle drivers to use any public charge-point through a single app or payment method.
The announcement follows the establishment of the government’s National Chargepoint Registry (NCR) in 2011, which is an open source of data for all public charge-points.
All publicly funded charge-points are already required to be uploaded onto the NCR, but the government now aims to ensure information on all public charge-points is released.
