The Government has announced a £2.5 million increase in funding for residential electric car charging points.
New Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the boost would fund the installation of more than 1,000 new charging points and doubled the funding available for local authorities to build charging infrastructure.
Noting that there are over 20,000 publicly accessible charging stations, Shapps added that it was ‘vital that electric vehicle drivers feel confident about the availability of chargepoints near their homes’.
The money specifically targets the construction of on-street charging points, which can be integrated into existing structures like lamp-posts, to provide ease of use to electric vehicle owners who do not have off-street parking.
Sue Robinson, Director of the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA), called the announcement ‘positive’ but urged the government to continue to invest in charging infrastructure. “The findings of our latest Consumer Attitude Survey suggested that ‘access to charging’ still represents a barrier to buying an electric vehicle for 53 percent of consumers,” she said.
Meanwhile, Sebastian Speight, Managing Director of Infrastructure at investment managing firm Ingenious, said that uncertainty such as charging type and location surrounding charging infrastructure ‘creates a level of risk in these business models which has a closer fit with strategic or venture capital rather than more traditional infrastructure capital.’ He concluded: “A closer involvement from public stakeholders should enable greater visibility on these risks and increase the availability of private capital.”
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