The UK government has announced a raft of funding for EV charger installation in 44 local authorities across the country, as part of the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (Levi) programme.
Following the approval of the first five local authority applications in February, payments to 44 additional local authorities, worth over £185mn, have now been approved to help residents charge their vehicles.
"The government continues to deliver its £381mn Local Electric Vehicle fund to councils, which can choose where is best to install chargepoints in their local area," a government statement says.
The Levi fund builds on the existing on-street residential charge pointscheme (ORCS). An updated ORCS is now available to all UK local authorities to provide public charge points for residents who do not have access to private parking.
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BEVs accounted for 16pc of the UK's new car market in 2023 and the government says the country now has 56,983 public charge points installed nationally — a 47pc increase compared to the same time time last year.
However, the rollout of public charging infrastructure in the UK has at times been dogged by delays caused by lengthy consultation and planning processes, the leader of a public charging coalition told EV inFocuslate last year.
The government has also announced it is extending the electric vehicle charge point grant to households without driveways or dedicated parking spaces.
With the extension, drivers without access to off-street parking will now be able to apply for funding from local government for home charge point installations.
“This will not only reduce fleet operating costs by decreasing reliance on the public charging network, but it will also reduce the number of times drivers without access to home charging need to stop during the working day to recharge," says David Watts, EV fleet product manager at Volkswagen Financial Services.
“The extension of the grant will undoubtedly support fleets efforts to incentivise driver adoption of EVs to support business sustainability ambitions," he adds.
Ciaran has written about finance, politics and culture. He is passionate about e-mobility and what it means for our way of life.
Ciaran has a Masters in Ancient Philosophy from Oxford University.
