UK councils to double electric car charging over next year in major boost for drivers

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    The research was uncovered by British Gas under a Freedom of Information request to more than 400 UK councils, of which 195 responded to all questions asked.

    It found local authorities in the UK have installed 16,680 EV charging points to date.

    The data also revealed a further 16,563 are planned to be installed over the next 12 months.

    Kim Royds, director of EVs at British Gas, commented on the data, saying it was important for councils to commit to improving the EV network.

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    The East and South West of England, as well as Wales, are all set to see an increased number of EV chargers, with the network growing by at least 100 percent.

    The North West of England will see the largest percentage increase a 450 percent rise in EV chargers from 375 to 2,064.

    Kim Royds added: “It’s incredibly encouraging to see council investment in public charging infrastructure gather momentum. 

    “Local councils have an important role to play in expanding the UK’s EV charging infrastructure, giving drivers access to publicly available chargepoints in every town and city in the UK. 

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    “Of course, alongside this we will need investment in home charging too in order to ensure that we create a robust charging network that enables everyone to benefit from an electric future.”

    Despite the planned increases in capacity, the data revealed 24 UK councils currently have no plans to install EV charging points in the next 12 months.

    Around 70 percent of these local authorities are located outside of London and the South East.

    A smaller uplift in chargepoint installations is expected from councils across the South East, Yorkshire, the North East and the Midlands.

    While they will all dramatically increase the number of chargers in the area, the percentage increase will only be between 67 and 98 percent.

    Scotland will see the smallest increase of 40 percent from 2,137 to 3,039 in the next year.

    According to a recent RAC report, a record number of drivers want their next car to be electric.

    However, the cost of living crisis is unsurprisingly having an impact and forcing many Britons to delay making the switch to any vehicle, including an EV.

    The RAC said a record 14 percent of drivers say their next car will be electric, up from 10 percent last year and just three percent in 2018.



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