Vauxhall Looks To Speed Up Residential On-Street Charging With ‘Electric Streets of Britain’ Initiative

VAUXHALL is looking to galvanise local authorities to install on-street chargepoints where required.

The car and van maker has teamed up with leading charge point operators to address the findings of an exclusive investigation. This found that more than 70% of UK councils currently do not have a published strategy in place for residential on-street charging for electric vehicles (EVs).

Lack of access to EV chargepoints is holding back many company car and van drivers from moving to electric vehicles.

The new findings from a Freedom of Information application across 414 councils and local authorities in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland also reveals that 69% of local authorities have yet to install any on-street chargers. 

According to the 289 councils who provided data up to July 1st, only 14,188 new charge points are planned for installation this year, well behind the run rate required to hit the Government’s target of having 300,000 running by the end of 2030. 

In response, Vauxhall has set up the ‘Electric Streets of Britain’ programme to make sure drivers without driveways are not left behind in the transition to electric mobility.

Working with leading charging operators char.gy, Connected Kerb and SureCharge, Vauxhall has set up an ‘Enablement Fund’ to help councils understand the scale of on-street charging issues, and the solutions available, ahead of the Government’s planned ban on the sale of new combustion engined cars in 2030. 

Vauxhall has also set up a new national database at Electric Streets for the public to register their needs, enabling councils to have a better understanding of where demand really lies for on-street charging for both existing and potential EV drivers.  

On-street electric car charging is seen as critical to EV uptake as current data shows that 80% of all EV charging is done at home. However, approximately 40% of UK households do not have a driveway or access to off-street parking, a figure that rises to 60% in urban areas. Residential on-street charging solutions include lamp post chargers, which can be installed and working within as little as 30 minutes, and innovative pavement-mounted bollards.

With 12,708 residential on-street residential charge points installed to date and a further 6,397 planned to be installed over the next year, London will soon be home to 19,105 on-street charge points – more than double the number of on-street charge points available across all other regions of the UK combined.

Of the councils who responded to the investigation across the UK, 45% confirmed they had no plans to install residential on-street chargers this year.