Only five local authorities have made use of a £4.5 million fund to help councils install EV charging points. The UK Government is urging local authorities to take advantage of the grants available to improve on-street charging provision in their areas.
The On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme offers councils up to 75% of the cost of buying and installing charge points – the remainder can come from public or private funding – combatting one area of EV charging that is recognised as barrier to large scale uptake.
A large number of drivers don’t have access to off-street parking at home, where the majority of EV charging is carried out – typically overnight. The funding available for councils is to help provide on-street charge points for residents, to overcome the charging at home obstacle that no off-street parking presents.
At the same time as the fresh encouragement for councils to take up the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme, the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) also confirmed that the Plug-in Car Grant and Electric Vehicle Homecharge Schemes would continue under the existing regulations. The grants were confirmed for extension in the Autumn Budget 2017, but details on whether they would change or not had been unclear until today,
