In a press release this morning the United Kingdom Government’s Department for Transport announced that:
Charging electric vehicles is set to get even easier thanks to hundreds of millions of funding made available for local authorities, homeowners and renters today.
The government continues to deliver its £381 million Local Electric Vehicle (LEVI) fund to councils, which can choose where is best to install chargepoints in their local area. Following the approval of the first five local authority applications in February, payments to 44 additional councils from Torbay to Tees Valley, worth over £185 million, have now been approved to help residents charge their vehicles.
The funding will support the delivery of thousands of chargepoints across England, helping more drivers get from A to B easily and supporting families in making the switch. Additionally, the local authorities that have already been allocated to the second round of LEVI funding will be able to apply to the fund from 2 April 2024, following those who have received funding in the first round and in a further boost to the chargepoint rollout.
In Devon and Cornwall the funding allocation is:
| Cornwall & Scilly | £5,509,000 |
| Devon | £7,067,000 |
| Plymouth | £2,415,000 |
| Torbay | £958,000 |
In a press release of their own today, Devon County Council add further details:
The announcement follows our adoption of the Devon Electric Vehicle Charging Strategy last year.
In the Strategy, we highlight that a key barrier to the uptake of EVs in Devon is the availability of suitable charging infrastructure, particularly in remote and rural areas.
To address this, the our Strategy recommends that we support the delivery of 2,000 more charging points by 2030.
It adds that there should be a particular focus on charging points on residential streets in rural and remote areas with electric grid constraints, where higher uptakes of EVs are forecast and communities without or with limited access to off-street parking.
The delivery of Devon’s LEVI scheme is set to begin in 2025 and will significantly expand on an already growing network of on and off-street EV charging points.
The DfT press release also announced additional financial support for EV owners who cannot charge their car in their own garage on on their driveway:
To further support electric vehicle (EV) drivers and families looking to switch to electric, the government is ensuring households without driveways or dedicated parking spaces can access the electric vehicle chargepoint grant. Delivering on our Plan for Drivers commitment to make EVs a more practical option, the £350 grant will be widened to those who own or rent and have access to adequate street parking.
The funding will drive down the cost of EV ownership by providing up to 75% off the cost of purchasing and installing a chargepoint, and applicants must also have permission from their council to install a cross-pavement charging solution. Applications can be made online.