£20m boost for public EV charging in England

Sarah Tooze, Consumer Editor
Wed, 24 Aug 2022

Nine local authorities in England have been awarded nearly £20m to install 1,000 EV charge points.
The funding is part of the Government's Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy.
Government has also brought forward £10m funding for the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme.

The Government has awarded nearly £20 million to nine local authorities in England to install more than 1,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging points.

The funding, which comes from Government and industry, is part of a wider £450 million scheme announced in the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy.

Through the Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) pilot scheme, local authorities and industry will work together to create new, commercial EV charging infrastructure for residents, from faster on-street charge points to larger petrol station-style charging hubs.

The local authorities benefiting from this first round of funding are: Barnet; Dorset; Durham; Kent; Midlands Connect (with Lincolnshire as a lead authority); North Yorkshire; Nottinghamshire; Suffolk; and Warrington.

Woman Charging An EV

Decarbonisation minister Trudy Harrison said: “We want to expand and grow our world-leading network of EV charge points, working closely with industry and local government, making it even easier for those without driveways to charge their electric vehicles and support the switch to cleaner travel.

“This scheme will help to level up electric vehicle infrastructure across the country, so that everyone can benefit from healthier neighbourhoods and cleaner air.”

Edmund King, AA president, added: "It is essential that more on-street chargers are delivered to boost the transition to zero emission vehicles for those without home charging.

"This injection of an extra £20 million funding will help bring power to electric drivers across England from Durham to Dorset. This is one further positive step on the road to electrification."

Funding brought forward for on-street charging

The new LEVI fund follows the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) which has seen nearly 2,900 chargepoints installed so far with funding provided for approaching 10,000 additional chargepoints in the future.

The Government is bringing forward £10 million in funding for the ORCS this year.

How many public EV charging points are there in the UK?

At the end of July 2022, there were 33,281 charging points across the UK at 20,336 charging locations, according to Zap Map.

Which areas in the UK have the most EV charge points?

Greater London has the most electric vehicle charging points (10,758 as at the end of July 2022), followed by the South-East with 4,351 and Scotland with 3,012, according to ZapMap.

How much is the Government investing in EV charge points?

The Government is spending £1.6 billion to increase public electric vehicle (EV) charge points tenfold to 300,000 by 2030.

It will spend £500 million on public charge points for local communities, including a £450 million Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) fund.

Ask HJ

Will the cost of charging an EV remain less than an ICE car?

With the price of petrol and diesel lowering slightly and the price of electricity likely to double if not more, will the cost of fuelling an electric car remain less than petrol or diesel?

It's worth doing some sums when trying to decide between petrol, diesel or electric power. As an example, let's look at the Volkswagen ID.3. A mid-range model has a 58kWh battery and can travel, say, 240 real-world miles from a charge. It's predicted that the cost of electricity could be capped at 70.34p per kWh from January 2023 – so, in a worst-case scenario, our ID.3 will cost about £40 to fully charge at home (equal to around 16p per mile). As a comparison, consider a Volkswagen Golf 1.5 TSI. You'll currently pay around 175.24p per litre of unleaded, so it'll cost around £87 for a full tank of petrol. Assuming you'll see around 50.0mpg, that works out at a cost of around 16p per mile... exactly the same as an ID.3. So how does a diesel Golf compare? Our readers see around 53.0mpg on average from a 2.0-litre diesel Golf, which means at the current fuel prices (185.9p per diesel) you'll pay... 16p per mile. Of course, these are rough calculations and there are numerous other factors to consider but, on the face of it, the cost of 'fuelling' an EV could soon be just as expensive as running a petrol or diesel car.

Answered by Andrew Brady

Can you recommend a versatile EV?

What would be an appropriate EV replacement for my lovely Skoda Yeti?

The obvious choice is the Skoda Enyaq iV. It's one of our favourite electric cars with impressive versatility. You could also look at the excellent Hyundai Ioniq 5 or Kia EV6 – or the new Kia Niro EV, which is slightly smaller but still a very convincing electric car. If you're on a tight budget, we'd also recommend the MG ZS EV. This guide might be useful: https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/guides/best-electric-cars/

Answered by Andrew Brady

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