UK provides £2.5 million for new charging points
The British government is providing further 2.5M pounds to promote more than 1,000 new charging points for electric cars. The now doubled budget will go to the streetside residential charge point scheme, which supports streetlight chargers among other places.
The announcement was made by transport secretary Grant Shapps, who added that the 2017-launched scheme was designed to provide EV charging opportunities for people who do not have access to “off-street parking”. Sixteen local authorities had already agreed to install 1,200 charging points this year, which the government hopes will increase after the budget increase.
Aim of the initiative is to make EVs more accessible, as Shapps adds: “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.” The calculation behind the initiative is an estimate from Deloitte that specifies that the UK will need 28,000 charging points in order to service the anticipated 7 million electric vehicles in 2030. With a current estimated 13,500 charging points, the UK still has some work ahead of them.
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