Government lays out £381m of EV charger funding

The government has today (March 30) announced £381m of funding for new ‘local’ electric car chargers.

Revealed as part of a wider ‘transport decarbonisation’ package, the government has set up the £381m ‘local electric vehicle infrastructure (LEVI) fund. An additional £15m has also been put aside for residential on-street chargers.

The government says that the two schemes will ‘support the installation of tens and thousands of new chargers across the country’.

Each region is allocated a set amount of money to put towards new chargers, with the South East receiving the most at £54m, while the North East is receiving £22m. The money is also split into local authorities, with London receiving by far the largest share of funds with £36m. Rutland will receive the smallest share of £257,000.

Technology and decarbonisation minister Jesse Norman said: “As today’s announcements show, the government is doing more than ever to help the UK move away from petrol and diesel and towards electric vehicles.

“That means investing in charging infrastructure and giving a clear direction to manufacturers, so they can roll out new electric vehicles faster and more efficiently. Overall, the UK is leading the way in decarbonising transport, a sector that is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gases.”

The government has also today announced its proposals for a ‘zero emissions vehicle mandate’. Kicking into effect in 2024, car manufacturers will be required to meet a certain percentage of fully-electric sales, but will be able to ‘trade credits’ with more EV-dominant carmakers in order to still meet criteria.

Manufacturers that do not meet this certain share, even with credits, face fines of up to £18,000 per vehicle they miss their target by.

While the extra funding for chargers has been welcomed, many are calling on the government to set out yearly targets for the number of EV points to be installed.

RAC electric vehicles spokesman Simon Williams said: “Extra funding for charging infrastructure is welcome as we know around a third of all homes in the UK don’t have a driveway for a chargepoint to be installed, which makes switching to an electric vehicle less straightforward.

“With the government imposing a mandate for zero-emission vehicle sales on manufacturers, it seems logical that this should be matched by targets for local authorities and charging networks to install a certain number of chargepoints, to meet demand from the expected increase in electric vehicles on the road.”