Five councils in Gwent including Blaenau Gwent,
Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport and Torfaen will
receive £458,724.50 this year to install 73 charge
points with 146 individual sockets across the region.
Cardiff, Carmarthenshire, Powys and Swansea councils
have also applied for thousands of pounds of funding,
with the amounts set to be confirmed.
Evidence indicates that most plug-in vehicle owners
will wish to do the largest proportion of their
charging at home, but many areas in the UK have
residential areas where off-street parking is not an
option, presenting a barrier to plug-in vehicle
adoption.
The funding aims to increase the availability of
affordable and accessible charging options, which will
be key to increasing the uptake of plug in vehicles in
the UK.
Secretary of State for Transport doubled the funding
available through the on-street residential charge
points scheme for 2019/20 by £2.5m.
Secretary of State for Wales said:
The next few decades will be transformative for our
transport industry and therefore it is vital that
electric vehicle drivers feel confident about the
availability of charge points near their homes and
along their journeys.
Greater availability of charge points will also
encourage a shift towards greener transport, bringing
significant environmental benefits with it.
That is why the UK Government is committed to
delivering this funding for local authorities across
Wales, and I would encourage more councils to apply
in order to create the necessary infrastructure to
help us reach our net zero emissions target.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
-
The Energy Saving Trust (EST) is administering this
scheme on behalf of OLEV and can
provide advice and
guidance to Local Authorities on the preparation of
an eligible and successful application
-
The On-street Residential Chargepoint Scheme
provides grant funding to local authorities looking
to install chargepoints for residents that lack
off-street parking. Since beginning in 2017, 51
local authorities have applied for funding. Between
April 2017 and March 2019 24 local authorities
received almost £1.4 million and delivered 700
chargepoints. The scheme has proved more popular
and since April 2019 with 27 Local Authorities been
awarded more than £3 million with plans to install
over 1300 charge points.
