· Government urges local authorities
to take advantage of £5m funding available to help build up local
charging infrastructure and increase access
to chargepoints for
drivers
· “Postcode should play no part” in
ease of using an electric car, Transport Secretary
says
· Data reveals London currently
leads electric vehicle infrastructure revolution nationally with
almost 4,000 charging stations
The Transport
Secretary has this week written to local authorities across the
country, urging them to take advantage of funding on offer to
build up their electric car charging infrastructure and to
increase local access to chargepoints for
drivers.
This comes as
the Department for Transport publishes a ‘league table’ of data
illustrating the public electric car charging infrastructure
available across the UK and highlighting gaps in
provision.
The Government
is clear that it wants driving an electric vehicle to be
convenient for people from all corners of the country, and that
local authorities have a key role to play. The data shows that
London is currently leading the electric vehicle infrastructure
revolution 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 City,
Manchester and Liverpool cities, and Milton Keynes are amongst
the best performing local authorities.
There are now
more charging locations than petrol stations, but there are still
over 100 local authorities with fewer than 10 public charging
devices per 100,000 population. Figures published today reveal
there are 13,000 charging devices across the country, equating to
22,500 chargepoints.
Transport
Secretary Grant Shapps said:
“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.
“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 chargepoints 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.”
Minister
for the Future of Transport
said:
“This data
provides a useful illustration of the availability
of chargepoints across
the UK.
“There are now
more than 22,000 public chargepoints and
at least one rapid charge point at over 95% of all motorway
services areas.
“To help level
up the country, we’ve recently doubled the funding available for
councils to build chargepoints on
residential streets.”
Electric
vehicles have a key role to play in improving air quality and
driving down emissions.
Funding for
electric vehicle chargepoints remains
available in 2019/20 through schemes
including:
· On-Street
Residential Chargepoint Scheme
(£5million)
· Workplace
Charging Scheme (£500 per chargepoint socket
and £10,000 per business)
· Electric
Vehicle Homecharge Scheme
(£500 per chargepoint socket)
The Government
has also recently announced a £400m Charging Infrastructure
Investment Fund, which aims to catalyse private investment in
charging infrastructure, and is consulting on
requiring chargepoints be
built into all new homes with a parking
space.
Charging device location data is sourced from the electric
vehicle charging platform Zap-Map and represents devices reported
as operational at midnight, 1 October 2019.
