The UK is getting serious about electric cars in a way that Australia simply isn’t. At the start of 2021, the UK announced the aggressive target of ending new petrol and diesel vehicle sales by 2030, but to achieve that, the issue of charging availability has to be solved.
In a new On-street Residential Chargepoint Scheme, the UK is offering A$36.5 Million (£20 million) to fund the installation of chargers. While fast charging is also being rolled out and commercial entities are also adding chargers to shopping centres and multi-story car parks, the majority of charging for electric vehicle owners takes place at home, so that aspect needs to be solved as well.
In many parts of the UK off-street parking is unavailable to many residents, so the solution for those who are in this situation, like those who live in apartments, will then have viable options to recharge.
The continuation of funding includes £20 million for 2021/22 and local authorities are invited to submit applications to receive this funding.
The Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) will fund up to 75% of the capital costs relating to the procurement and installation of residential electric vehicle charge point infrastructure. Local authorities will co-invest the remaining 25%. There is a maximum cap of £13,000 per installation, and evidence of high connection costs will be required where applicants apply for over £7,500 per charge point.
A key criteria of the funding is that all projects must be complete by Projects must complete by March 31st, 2023. This round of funding will see a minimum of 1,500 charging locations added and potentially closer to 2,000 with some sites attracting a lower capital cost to establish.
For the local councils, this appears like a great deal, they have 75% of the costs of infrastructure covered, while then being able to collect revenue for decades to come.
More information at energysavingtrust.org.uk/
