A new pilot project backed by £20 million (US$23 million) of UK government and industry funding will deliver more than 1,000 public chargepoints in selected areas across England. Through the Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) pilot scheme, local authorities and industry are working together to create new, commercial EV charging infrastructure for residents, from faster on-street chargepoints to larger gasoline station-style charging hubs.

The winners of the pilot fund are: Barnet; Dorset; Durham; Kent; Midlands Connect (with Lincolnshire as a lead authority); North Yorkshire; Nottinghamshire; Suffolk; and Warrington.

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

The pilot is backed by £10 million (US$11.5 million) of government funding shared among the 9 winning local authorities in the first tranche of the planned £450-million (US$518-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.

The scheme will allow local authorities to provide feedback on how to grow the network and the role the private sector can play.

The new LEVI fund builds on the success of the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) which has seen nearly 2,900 chargepoints installed so far with funding provided for approaching 10,000 additional chargepoints in the future.

Following growing demand from local authorities, the Government also announced that a further £10 million in funding has been brought forward for this year, bringing this year’s ORCS funding to £30 million to help maintain ongoing installations.

Further LEVI funding is expected be open for local authorities to apply for by the end of 2022.