People with electric vehicles will soon find it easier to charge in Portsmouth, as over £3.6M in funding has been allocated to install more charging points in the city.
Portsmouth City Council have been allocated a total of £3,682,000 from the Department for Transport’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) fund. This will support the installation of more public chargepoints, to help residents to charge their electric vehicles (EVs) even if they don’t have off-street parking.
Initiatives like this help the council achieve its vision of creating a cleaner, greener, and better-connected city, as well as meeting its objective of creating cleaner air for everyone. Whilst private electric vehicles have limited effect on reducing issues such as congestion and parking, they are less polluting than petrol and diesel vehicles and therefore contribute to improved air quality in Portsmouth.
There are already nearly 100 on-street residential charge points installed in Portsmouth since 2019, thanks to funding from the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS). This new funding will help grow this network significantly over the coming years.
The existing system uses a charging point inside a streetlamp column or slimline bollard, letting people safely charge their vehicles close to their homes on a pay-as-you-go basis. The council is also bidding for a further 321 on-street chargers that would be installed by early 2024.
Additionally, there are plans to install faster ‘rapid chargers’ as part of an ongoing project to help drivers of licensed taxi and private hire vehicles to choose electric vehicles. This includes the installation of nine rapid chargers in car parks across the city including Stubbington Avenue car park in North End, London Road car park in Cosham, the Park and Ride and the city centre.
Hayley Chivers, Transport Planning Manager, said:
“We’re pleased to receive this £.3.6m funding from the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) fund as it means that the council can build on our work to install a wide network of electric vehicle chargers across Portsmouth.
Expanding the network of electric vehicle chargepoints across Portsmouth helps to achieve our vision of a city with cleaner, greener, healthier and better-connected journeys.”
The council will now submit an expression of interest to the government, before setting out a business case that creates specific plans on how this infrastructure can be delivered in the city. This new infrastructure is likely to be delivered in 2024/25.
More information about electric vehicle chargepoints in Portsmouth can be found at https://www.portsmouth.gov.uk/services/parking-roads-and-travel/travel/electric-charge-points/
Original source article: https://www.portsmouth.gov.uk/2023/03/30/funding-boost-for-portsmouth-electric-vehicle-charging/ Author: Portsmouth City Council