In the UK, almost £40m will be distributed between 13 Midlands councils to set up electric vehicle charging points. The cash has come from the UK Government’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund.
Two partnerships have been created between the councils to work on the project: The Second Midlands EV Infrastructure Consortium and the Third Midlands EV infrastructure Consortium. The partnerships have an award of £39.3m, from which each local authority has been allocated an individual amount.
According to Midlands Connect, their analysis found the Midlands region needs 17,461 new public EV charging points by the end of 2025 to meet the needs of the growing EV market.
Almost exactly a year ago, Midlands Connect and five local city councils secured £1million of funding through the LEVI Fund Pilot. These funds are expected to attract an additional £2.8m of private sector investment to roll out 322 standard and 27 rapid EV charging points across the Midlands.
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The charge points are expected to be installed for this project in the summer of 2024. The LEVI fund builds on the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS).
Midlands Connect hopes this latest tranche of government funding will spur on more region-wide installation of charging points.
Maria Machancoses, CEO of Midlands Connect, said: “This is a vital next step in our efforts to improve electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the region ahead of the phase-out of sales of new diesel and petrol cars and vans by 2030.” She pointed out that the funding will improve the situation for those who do not have access to off-street parking and may otherwise struggle to charge their electric cars.