Connected Kerb, an electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure specialist, has announced its plans to install 190,000 public on-street electric car chargers in the UK, worth up to £1.9 billion, by 2030.
The investment will help to revolutionise access to electric vehicle charging for the tens of millions of drivers without off-street parking and support mass market charging for workplaces and fleets.
The company has secured new partnerships for 10,000 public on-street electric vehicle chargers across the UK in 2021 alone. The majority of which will be deployed across West Sussex and Kent.
The West Sussex tender is believed to be the UK’s largest deployment by a local authority. Deals for a further 30,000 chargers are expected to conclude next year, as part of the company’s ambition to “level up” charging across the UK.
Chris Pateman-Jones, Connected Kerb CEO, said: “Knowing you can arrive at virtually any location, at any time, in any vehicle and cheaply charge your battery without inconvenience or faff is the reality we have to deliver to create an EV society.
“Our rollout of public chargers – one of the most ambitious the UK has ever seen – encapsulates that future, helping individuals and businesses to confidently make the switch to electric, reducing their carbon footprint and cutting air pollution.
“Targets are important for an industry so critical to the decarbonisation of transport. We need goals to work towards and objectives to which we are all accountable. However, they need to be met with action.
“With deals confirmed for 10,000 chargers this year alone, and 30,000 more expected next year, we are demonstrating that we’re getting on with the job and delivering the change that needs to happen – not just talking about it.”
Delivery of on-street electric vehicle chargers is important as electric vehicle ownership in the UK is skyrocketing. Pure electric car sales in the UK are up by 88 percent year-to-date compared to 2020 and one in four UK households intend to buy an electric in the next five years.
Currently, there are only around 1,000 public-access on-street chargers outside of London and just one for every 52 electric vehicles on UK roads. As a result, those without off-street parking or a dedicated parking space with a domestic power supply, which accounts for 62 percent of drivers, are being left behind in the transition to driving electric
Lord Gerry Grimstone, Minister for Investment at Department for International Trade and Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, said: “Connected Kerb’s significant investment in electric vehicle chargers will support the UK’s commitment to green growth and ambitious net zero targets.
“Investments like this will be vital to help reduce emissions and limit the rise in global temperatures whilst driving jobs, growth and levelling up across the country.”
Local authorities are uniquely placed to spearhead the deployment of public on-street charging across the UK. The UK government’s Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) meets 75 percent of the cost of installations through the On-Street Residential Charging Scheme (ORCS).
In many cases, Connected Kerb provides the remaining 25 percent, providing a zero-cost installation opportunity for councils.
As of 1 July 2021, the ORCS has funded the installation of 1,459 public charging devices since the scheme was established in 2017, with a further 3,200 charge points to be installed in the near future.
In this year alone, local authorities across the UK have already committed to installing up to 10,000 Connected Kerb chargers by 2030. This is equivalent to a near seven-fold increase in the number of chargers installed through the scheme over its entire history.
The majority of the 10,000 chargers will be installed on streets, in public sector car parks and at community facilities for West Sussex Council by 2030, following a tender win by Connected Kerb, announced today.
The rollout is believed the UK’s largest ever deployment of electric chargers by a local authority. The scheme will give residents the confidence to go electric in time for the 2030 ban on the sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles and provide a blueprint for local authorities across the UK to deliver affordable, reliable, and accessible chargers in their thousands.
Kent County Council today also announces it has also chosen Connected Kerb to deploy at least 600 chargers by 2023. Installations are beginning this year, with many of the chargers installed in parish towns and rural areas across Kent, providing much-needed infrastructure to communities often overlooked in the electric vehicle transition.
Thousands more chargers are also announced today as part of tenders with councils including Coventry (300 chargers), Cambridge (360) and Plymouth (100), and recently, Milton Keynes (250), Warrington (30), Medway (30), and Glasgow City Council, East Lothian Council, Shropshire County Council and Hackney Council, as part of the Agile Streets trial (100).
Trudy Harrison, Transport Minister, said: “Providing reliable and affordable on-street charging is vital as we work to decarbonise transport and level up across the country.
“It’s great to see Connected Kerb and local authorities working together as the Government commits £2.5bn towards electric vehicle grants and the development of EV infrastructure in our towns and cities.”
Connected Kerb has installed 1,000 chargers in 2021 alone and expects to have 5,500 installed across the UK, with contracts secured for 30,000 more, by the end of 2022. By 2030, the company plans to have 190,000 chargers installed.