The government has announced today it will award £5,375,000 to North Yorkshire Council to install more electric vehicle chargepoints.
Ministers hope the funding will lead to hundreds of new chargers and increase the number of EV drivers in the county.
North Yorkshire is one of the first five local authority areas to receive funding from the government’s £381 million Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) fund.
A total of £14.2 million has been awarded to councils in North Yorkshire, East Sussex and Bedford as well as the London boroughs of Hackney and Hounslow.
Technology and decarbonisation minister Anthony Browne said:
“This latest set of measures will mean EV owners everywhere benefit from easier and more convenient access to chargepoints, with over £5.3m of dedicated funding just for North Yorkshire.”
The government today also announced grants for state schools and nurseries to provide up to 75% of the cost to buy and install chargepoints, up to £2,500 per socket — up from the previous £350.
The Department for Transport scheme forms part of the government’s Workplace Charging Scheme and is available to state-funded schools, colleges, nurseries and academies to boost chargepoint facilities for staff and visitors. It could also help schools generate revenue by making chargepoints available to the public.
Education minister Baroness Barran hailed the move as “an exciting opportunity for schools across England to become part of an ongoing move towards a greener public sector”.
In addition, the government is today launching a consultation to look at ways to speed up chargepoint installation across the country. The proposals would give EV chargepoint operators the right to carry out street works using a permit rather than a licence.
Permits can be issued much faster, taking days instead of months, and are significantly cheaper to obtain than licences, reducing costs for operators and speeding up the chargepoint rollout for drivers.
Today’s package of measures form part of the government’s Plan for Drivers.
The Department for Transport said industry statistics revealed fully electric vehicles accounted for over 16% of the new UK car market in 2023.
It added over 53,000 public chargepoints have been installed in the UK.
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