West Midlands overtakes London in UK electric car charger revolution | Automobile industry

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The West Midlands overtook London as the region with the fastest growing electric car charger network, thanks to a push by Coventry to move away quickly from gasoline and diesel cars.

The number of electric car chargers in the West Midlands increased by a fifth between April and July, according to data from Zap-Map and the Department of Transport. This compares to growth of 12.6% in the east of England.

London has always attracted the most new load points in absolute terms, with 309 additions, but the West Midlands, which have a much smaller population, were just behind at 272.

The climate change committee in June described improving the UK’s charging network as a priority for the government ahead of a 2035 ban on new gasoline and diesel engines. He said the government should target around 150,000 operational public charging points by 2025, widely available in all parts of the UK. However, London with 13% of the population still accounts for 31% of public chargers, as charging companies cater to its wealthier citizens.

The UK had 24,400 public chargers in July, up from 15,000 in October 2019 when the DfT started publishing comparable data. There are already more chargers than the 8,400 service stations in the country. However, the quarterly growth rate of 7% between April and July would barely allow the UK to come close to the CCC 2025 target.

Coventry has mainly used public funds to install chargers, with a quarter of the investment coming from private charging point operators, who hope to get their money back in about seven years. It is part of a program to adopt electric vehicles which also includes hosting the UK Battery Industrialization Center and obtaining a preventive building permit for a giga-factory to build batteries. electric car batteries.

Shamala Evans-Gadgil, program manager in Coventry City Hall’s Department of Transport and Innovation, said she hoped their model of improving charger networks could lead the way for the rest of the country. We know the ban is coming. We know the infrastructure is needed. It can’t be just Coventry. It must be generalized.

The number of electric cars registered in the city has almost tripled to over 1,000 in the past three years with the deployment of charging infrastructure. In 2021, the use of chargers has also increased rapidly, Evans-Gadgil said.

Analysis for the Guardian by think tank New Automotive suggests a correlation between the number of electric car chargers and the number of electric cars purchased in a particular local authority area. However, proving a causal relationship can be difficult as other factors such as wealth and demographics are likely to impact the adoption of electric cars.

Coventry is one of many local authorities outside London to have deployed public funds to expand their charging networks. Milton Keynes, designed around cars as a new town in the ’60s and’ 70s, has more chargers than any local authority area outside of the capital.

Electric cars have given the city a chance to be at the forefront once again, according to Brian Matthews, transportation innovation manager at Milton Keynes City Council. The city has installed fast-charging stations in 15 community centers, often near shops or other amenities such as new points at the MK Dons football stadium.

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The council also offered low-cost electric car trials, set up an electric car experience center, and even taught car salespeople to help them sell electric vehicles. It seems to have been a success. At the end of last year, electric cars accounted for around 23% of the town’s sales, compared to a national average of close to 10%.

Having an extensive and reliable charging network will be key to allaying the doubts of those reluctant to ditch fossil fuels, including government climate spokesperson Allegra Stratton. This month, Stratton shocked experts by saying she was sticking to diesel cars for now because she wanted to make long trips to see relatives without stopping to recharge.

His comments were at odds with Boris Johnson’s plans to transform Britain’s charging infrastructure. The government is highlighting 1.3 billion euros spent on recharging electric cars, including money for motorway and road terminals.

Yet the scale of the remaining challenge is enormous. Competing forecasts cited by the Competition and Markets Authority suggest that the UK will need between 280,000 and 480,000 times 10-20 times more than it currently has. Up to 8 million homes without private parking would depend on street charging stations, he said.

Dundee City Council, which claims to have the highest concentration of fast chargers in Europe, has set up one of its first charging centers in a poorer area to try to expand the choice of electric cars to more people. Other initiatives include street chargers that stick out of the ground and even a charging robot for multi-storey car parks.

However, the city’s efforts are also linked to reducing car use. Dundee is setting up charging stations at multimodal hubs, well-connected bus and train stations that will also have electric bikes for hire and enjoyable routes to the city center.

Fraser Crichton, Dundee City Council Company Fleet Manager, said: What we thought was we didn’t want to replace the car with a car, what we want is for people to on a beautiful day leave their vehicle at the hub and walk into the city.

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