Government pledges nearly £400m to EV charging infrastructure

The funding will support the installation of tens of thousands of new chargers

Government pledges nearly £400m to EV charging infrastructure
Photo: Citroën

The government will commit £381 million to improve the electric vehicle charging network across England as part of a Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) fund.

A further £15m will be available via the On-Street Residential Charging Scheme (ORCS), which provides grants for local authorities to provide residential charging points for plug-in electric cars.

This comes following widespread concerns that the infrastructure is ill-equipped to deal with the projected surge in demand for new electric vehicles.

Transport secretary Mark Harper said: ”Transport is one of the most important sectors for achieving net zero by 2050 and so we must accelerate our efforts to decarbonise how people get from A to B while growing our economy and supporting thousands of green jobs.

”From expanding our charging network to boosting the production of cleaner aviation fuel, today’s announcement is a great stride forwards, offering people more choice on how to stay connected while delivering the carbon reductions needed to achieve net zero.”

Technology and decarbonisation minister Jesse Norman added: ”As today’s announcements show, the government is doing more than ever to help the UK move away from petrol and diesel and towards electric vehicles.

”That means investing in charging infrastructure and giving a clear direction to manufacturers, so they can roll out new electric vehicles faster and more efficiently. Overall, the UK is leading the way in decarbonising transport, a sector that is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gases.”

Mike Hawes, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) chief executive called the measures ”a step in the right direction”, but called other aspects of the plan “disappointing”.

He said: ”Measures to improve the customer charging experience are a step in the right direction, but the fact that contactless credit or debit card payments will not be available on the vast majority of public chargers is a major failing that will significantly disadvantage EV drivers.

”It is also disappointing that, unlike in other countries, there is no commensurate regulation to drive investment into the public network given that paucity of chargepoints remains the biggest barrier to buying an electric vehicle.

”Ultimately, for this mandate to be successful, infrastructure providers must now turn promises into investment and catch up with the commitments of vehicle manufacturers.”

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