The Royal Borough has secured almost £1million of national investment to fast track the rollout of new electric vehicle chargepoint infrastructure.
It follows a successful bid to the Department for Transport (DfT) and will enable the rollout of the infrastructure through a future public-private partnership with chargepoint operating companies.
The significant investment - £927,000 – has come from the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Capital Fund to incentivise and accelerate private investment in chargepoint delivery across the region.
This will support the council’s Electric Chargepoint Implementation Plan, which outlines how the Royal Borough will bring forward hundreds more charging points for electric vehicles and help the transition to low carbon transport. The implementation plan helps to support the move to greener travel and ensure charging provision for electric vehicles keeps pace with demand.
The next steps will involve discussions with the DfT in advance of proceeding to tender to identify suitable project partners. Further project development work and consultation to help identify specific chargepoint locations and roll-out timetable will be carried out once suppliers have been identified.
Councillor Geoff Hill, Cabinet Member for highways and transport, said: “I’m absolutely delighted that the council has secured this significant investment from the DfT, which will be used to incentivise and accelerate private investment by chargepoint operators in residential chargepoints across the borough.
"It will ensure chargepoint provision remains ahead of rising rates of EV ownership, giving our residents the ability and confidence to switch to EVs sooner and reducing carbon emissions accordingly. It will also enable us to meaningfully kickstart the rollout of residential on-street chargepoint sites, putting electric vehicles in the fast lane.
“In our borough, 33% of carbon emissions come from the vehicles on our roads and switching the way we power our cars and vans is vital.
“There are approximately 4,000 electric cars in the borough today, and this number is growing exponentially. By 2035, it is anticipated that there will be 50,000 electric cars in the borough. To meet this demand, the borough will need to have introduced hundreds of on-street charging sockets and sockets in council car parks across the borough. We want EVs to be a convenient and viable way to travel in the borough and, increasingly, residents are expecting to find charging infrastructure available in the borough.”