The Department for Transport is giving out £10 million to projects that will boost ultra-rapid chargers in hard to reach areas.
The funding is aimed specifically at facilities on the UK’s motorway and A-road network, in an effort to reduce charging black spots caused by a lack of beefy grid connections. Ultra-rapid chargers can provide electricity to EVs at speeds between 150kW and 400kW, but they need the local electricity grid infrastructure to be upgraded so they can supply the advertised power.
The government body that promotes innovation and research among businesses, Innovate UK, will hand out the cash to people apply and make a solid case for their project. The briefing papers for the fund don’t specify what technology the providers should deploy, but it is expected that successful projects will use things like solar panels and on-site storage batteries to boost output in areas where it’s not easy to build high-powered electricity connections.
Charge point providers have been hampered in their efforts to provide EV charging hubs across the UK by poor grid connections and the long waits to get them upgraded.
To be eligible for the funding, projects will have to provide ultra-rapid charging for 12 EVs or more, on or close to a motorway or A-road, and they’ll be expected to share what they’ve learned so that their ideas can be put into action elsewhere.
Innovate UK’s director of mobility, Claire Spooner, said: “Innovate UK will test new approaches to the EV charging power challenges on England’s strategic road network, especially in rural areas. The programme’s outcomes will build capability and bring together energy and transport stakeholders to improve EV charging for longer journeys.”
The fund has been announced just days after the latest figures showed that the number of public charge points had increased by almost a quarter in the last 12 months.
Government hopes to boost charge points with new fund 
