£7m grant will see hundreds more electric charge points in West

Hundreds more electric car charge points are set to be installed across the West of England after a £7m boost from the government.

The West of England Combined Authority will get up to £6.6m from government for purchasing and installing hundreds more electric vehicle charging points in the wider region – and a further £560,000 to administer the new charge points.

The provisional funding is dependent on suitable plans to be agreed with ministers and local authorities, and adds to the £5m as part of the  £60m Green Recovery Plan to install charge points across the West of England, including more than 200 planned in this financial year alone.

Currently there are over 580 publicly available charging points in the West in places such as the car park on Midsomer Norton South Road and the charging area in Lyde Green, but forecasts suggest that more than 1,800 could be needed to reach the ambitious West of England net-zero-by-2030 target.

West of England mayor Dan Norris stressed the need to go “much further and much faster” as he vowed to redouble efforts to “turbocharge” the number of charge points in the region.

He said: “In order to have an ‘electric vehicle revolution’ we need to turbocharge efforts to make charging your car as easy – if not easier – than filling up at the pump.

“That is why this is such a big win for our region as my West of England Mayoral Combined Authority accelerates the rollout of easily available, reliable and straightforward to use charging points in the West of England – to make it easier than ever to own an electric car, wherever in the region you live. That’s also a vital step if we are going to reach our very ambitious net-zero targets.”

Sales of new petrol and diesel cars and vans in the UK will be banned from 2030.