A new pilot scheme backed by £20 million of government and industry funding will bring more than 1,000 new charge points for drivers who aren’t able to access off-street parking. 

Through the new Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) pilot scheme, local authorities and industry will work together to create new, commercial charging infrastructure for residents, with new on-street charge points and larger petrol station-style charging hubs to allow weekly top ups. 

Funding has been allocated to local authorities who successfully pitched to be part of the pilot. These are: Barnet, Dorset, Durham, Kent, Midlands Connect (with Lincolnshire as a lead authority), North Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Suffolk and Warrington.

The scheme will help residents without private driveways to have better access to chargers, as well as growing the charging network across the country. 

The pilot is backed by £10 million of government funding shared among the nine winning local authorities in the first tranche of the planned £450 million scheme, with winning pilot bids supported by an additional £9 million in private funding. A further £1.9 million will come from public funds across local authorities. 

Decarbonisation Minister Trudy Harrison said: “We want to expand and grow our world-leading network of EV charge points, working closely with industry and local government, making it even easier for those without driveways to charge their electric vehicles and support the switch to cleaner travel. 

“This scheme will help to level up electric vehicle infrastructure across the country, so that everyone can benefit from healthier neighbourhoods and cleaner air.”

The new LEVI fund builds on the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) which has seen nearly 2,900 charge points installed so far with funding provided for approaching 10,000 additional points in the future.Following growing demand from local authorities, the government has announced a further £10 million in funding which has been brought forward for this year, bringing this year’s ORCS fund to £30 million to help maintain ongoing installations. 

Ginny Buckley, founder and CEO of Electrifying.com said: “Although this news is welcome, I would also like to see the 20% VAT that is currently imposed on power from public chargers cut to 5%, to bring it in line with domestic power supplies. This will make electric cars more affordable for people who don’t have access to a private driveway. Without taking these steps now, we risk leaving people behind at a crucial time in our electric revolution.”

The scheme will also help fund filling station style hubs