The government has announced that it is doubling funding for electric car charging points at the side of roads.
For the 2020-21 financial year, the On-street Residential Chargepoint Scheme will double its funding. The scheme, which allows councils across the UK to apply for funding to install on-street chargers in residential areas in its area, could pay for up to 3,600 more chargers.
The move aims to make charging simpler for those who don’t have off-street parking, or the ability to charge at home.
The Department for Transport (DfT) has also committed to sharing more real-time charging data with motorists – displaying the availability at that time with life information. While this data is currently available with some cars and charging providers, it doesn’t cover the full UK charging network.
The DfT aims to make this data more widely available to developers so that it can then be integrated into more sat-navs and route-planning apps.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “We want to make electric cars the new normal, and ensuring drivers have convenient places to charge is key to that.
“By doubling funding again for charge points on streets where people live and opening up data we are helping drivers easily locate and use affordable, reliable charge points whether at home or on the road.”
According to data from the UK’s leading charging point platform, there are currently 10,689 public charging point locations across the UK, which provide nearly 30,000 connectors for EVs and plug-in hybrids.