£5.3m Government and industry funding electrifies Yorkshire's chargepoint plans

Yorkshire drivers will benefit from £5.3m in Government and industry funding for increasing electric vehicle (EV) charge points.

Today’s (February 21) announcement by Transport Minister Jesse Norman will install up to a further 290 charge points in the short term, while working to support four Yorkshire local authorities to deliver many more in the long term, including the City of York, North Yorkshire, Rotherham and West Yorkshire Combined Authority.

The funding will expand the current Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Pilot, boost the existing On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) and help councils in Yorkshire secure dedicated resources to develop in-house expertise and capability to coordinate chargepoint plans and work with private operators.

Technology and Decarbonisation Transport Minister, Jesse Norman commented: “The Government is giving local authorities across England additional help today to energise their chargepoint roll-out plans.

“Today’s commitment will lead to thousands of new chargers being installed, and plans for tens of thousands extra in due course, so that more people than ever can make the transition to using EVs”.

Today’s announcement is part of a total £56m in government and industry funding to increase electric vehicle charge points across the country. Part of this includes the £8m LEVI Capability Fund which will equip local authorities with the skills and ambition to scale up their plans when it comes to their charging strategy.

The funding will help local authorities work in tandem with private business, and chargepoint operators will drive the sustainable growth of local networks, building and utilising their collective knowledge and expertise to deliver the most ambitious charge points plans for their area.

Today also sees the Government bringing forward a further £7m funding for the existing On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme, bringing the total funding this year to £37 million. 3,000 charge points have already been installed under ORCS with a further 10,000 in the pipeline.

Several additional funding schemes are already open and available to help install charge points for electric vehicles with government support, including the Workplace Charging Scheme, Landlord grant and the Private/Rental grant.

The Government has already spent over £2bn to support the move to zero emission vehicles, helping drive forward the decarbonisation of the UK’s entire transport system.

By Matthew Neville – Senior Correspondent, Bdaily

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