Government announces new £56m funding to expand LEVI charge point scheme
The UK Government has announced a further £56 million in public and industry funding for electric vehicle charge points.
Transport Minister Jesse Norman said the new funding would help install up to a further 2,400 charge points in the short term, while the Government would work to support local councils to install tens of thousands more in the long term.
The funding will expand the current Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) pilot, boost the existing On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) and help councils across England to develop in-house expertise and co-ordinate charge point plans with private operators.
Three of the original LEVI pilot schemes will be expanded, and there will be 16 new pilot scheme areas, with funding as detailed below:
| Buckinghamshire | £200,000 |
| Cumbria | £1.9m |
| Hackney | £1m |
| Harborough | £2.3m |
| Hounslow | £1.8m |
| Lancashire | £600,000 |
| Norfolk | £1.6m |
| Oxfordshire | £1.6m |
| Rotherham | £1.6m |
| Sunderland | £800,000 |
| Waltham Forest | £2.5m |
| Warwickshire | £1.0m |
| West Midlands | £8.5m |
| West Sussex | £2.9m |
| West Yorkshire | £3m |
| York | £1.9m |
| Durham* | £7.4m |
| Barnet* | £4.4m |
| North Yorkshire* | £3.6m |
*original pilot expansion.
Technology and Decarbonisation Transport Minister, Jesse Norman said: “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.”
In total, £22m of government funding for the pilot areas is supported by an additional £17m of private funding, and £2m from public funds across local authorities.
In addition to expanding the pilot scheme, the Government has announced a new £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 charge point operators to drive the sustainable growth of local networks, building and utilising their collective knowledge and expertise to deliver the most ambitious chargepoint plans for their area.
The government has also brought forward a further £7m funding for the existing On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme, bringing the total funding this year to £37m. More than 3,000 charge points have already been installed under ORCS with a further 10,000 planned.
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.