Welsh councils receive funding for EV charge points

The UK Government’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) will announced the allocation of hundreds of thousands of pounds in funding to nine Welsh local authorities to assist with the cost of installing electric vehicle charge points in residential areas.

The nine local authorities which are scheduled to receive funding include Cardiff, Carmarthenshire, Powys, Swansea, Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport, and Torfaen.

Of the nine local authorities, five are situated within the wider area of Gwent, specifically these are Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport, and Torfaen, with the five authorities set to receive a figure of £458,724.50 to install 73 EV charge points with a total of 146 individual sockets.

The Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, recently doubled the provision of funding that will support the delivery of EV charge points, through the ‘On-Street Residential Charge Points Scheme’ for 2019/20. This doubling of funds has increased the amount of money by a substantial £2.5M.

The Secretary of State for Wales, Alun Cairns stated: “The next few decades will be transformative for our transport industry and therefore it is vital that electric vehicle drivers feel confident about the availability of charge points near their homes and along their journeys.

“Greater availability of charge points will also encourage a shift towards greener transport, bringing significant environmental benefits with it.

“That is why the UK Government is committed to delivering this funding for local authorities across Wales, and I would encourage more councils to apply in order to create the necessary infrastructure to help us reach our net zero emissions target.”

According to recent research, people in the UK who own electric vehicles stated that they would prefer to be able to charge their cars at home but have found that the infrastructure is not in place to allow them to do so.

It is therefore hoped that this OLEV funding will introduce electric vehicle infrastructure to residential areas and encourage more people to opt for this type of sustainable transport.

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