DfT announces increases in funding for on-street chargepoints
Tue 21 January 2020
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The Department for Transport has announced that it is doubling funding to £10m for the installation of chargepoints on residential streets next year. The Government is also considering how real-time information can also be made readily available, helping cut waiting times by showing which chargepoints are currently being used.
The additional money could fund up to another 3,600 chargepoints across the country and make charging at home and overnight easier for those without an off-street parking space.
The government is also looking at how to make information about all public chargepoints including locations and power ratings openly available in a standard format for the first time. The Department for Transport will look at how real-time information could be published, showing whether chargepoints are in working order and currently in use, which could then be used by developers and incorporated into sat navs and route mapping apps
The Government's press release says that over 17,000 devices providing over 24,000 publicly available chargepoints, (of which over 2,400 are rapid chargepoints) have been installed. The UK now has one of the largest charging networks in Europe with more locations where you can charge your car than there are petrol stations.
The Government has already challenged industry to provide debit and credit card payment at all newly installed rapid chargepoints and develop a roaming solution across the charging network, allowing electric vehicle drivers to use any public chargepoint through a single app or payment method. With announcements coming thick and fast from the sector, there is no doubt the charging providers are responding to this call.
The LowCVP-convened Electric Vehicle Energy Taskforce which recently launched its report included related, specific recommendations to enable interoperability between different suppliers' chargepoints and a range of measures to facilitate 'smart charging'. See link.
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