The government has allocated £2.5 million for an additional 1,000 electric car charge-points on residential streets. The funding is part of the enormous £1.5 billion Road to Zero fund.
The aim is to encourage car buyers without access to off-street parking to buy EVs. A big hurdle for this demographic is the ability to charge a car when parked ‘at home’ without a drive.
The charge-points can be built onto existing infrastructure such as lamp posts, allowing access for street-parked electric vehicles.
Charging up new affordable electric cars
The added funding is a response to the 158 percent year-on-year increase in fully-electric vehicle sales as of July 2019. Research indicates that one of the main hurdles to EV adoption in the eyes of car buyers is adequate charging infrastructure.
On top of this, there’s the cost of electric cars. However, a number of affordable EV models will have come to market by this time next year, including the Vauxhall Corsa-e, Peugeot e-208 and the Volkswagen ID.3. They will join affordable electric-only models from Renault, Nissan, Kia, Hyundai and MG.
Cheaper EVs should result in more accelerated uptake – hence the improved infrastructure.
“It’s fantastic that there are now more than 20,000 publicly accessible charge-points,” said the new transport secretary, Grant Shapps.
“But we want to do more. It’s vital that electric vehicle drivers feel confident about the availability of charge-points near their homes, and that charging an electric car is seen as easy as plugging in a smartphone.”
“That’s why we are now doubling the funding available for local authorities to continue building the infrastructure we need.”