Connected Kerb, an electric car charging firm specialising in installing units at the roadside, has stated that it will install 190,000 public on-street chargers by 2030 at the cost of £1.9bn. 

The company says the ‘unprecedented investment will revolutionise access to electric car charging’ for millions of drivers who don’t have off-street charging and support mass-market charging for fleets and workplaces.

Local authorities to lead the way 

Local authorities are in a unique place to spearhead the implementation of public on-street charging across the UK. The government’s Office for Zero Emission Vehicles pays up to 75% of the installation costs through the On-Street Residential Charging Scheme (ORCS). Connected Kerb provides the remaining 25% in several cases, providing a zero-cost installation opportunity for councils.

As of 1st July 2021, the ORCS has funded the installation of 1,459 public charging devices since the scheme was created in 2017, with an additional 3,200 charge points to be installed soon.

Connected Kerb has also announced a partnership for 10,000 public EV chargers that will be installed on streets, in public sector car parks and at community facilities across West Sussex by 2030. This is considered to be the most extensive deployment of the chargers yet by a local authority. 

Kent County Council also confirmed they will install at least 600 units by 2023, while a further 30,000 Connected Kerb chargers are also set to be finalised next year. Installations should commence this year, with many of the chargers set to be in parish towns and rural areas across the county, providing much-needed infrastructure to places often overlooked in the EV transition. 

Susan Carey, the Cabinet Member for Environment at Kent's County Council said:

“An easy-to-use and reliable network of electric vehicle charge points across the county will help more people make the switch to Electric Vehicles with all the benefits that brings in cleaner air and quieter roads. It’s a great example of how partnership working can deliver more, and I’m delighted KCC is part of this pioneering project.”

Thousands of more EV chargers were also announced by Connected Kerb as part of tenders with councils including Coventry (300 chargers), Cambridge (360) and Plymouth (100), and recently, Milton Keynes (250), Warrington (30), Medway (30), and Glasgow City Council, East Lothian Council, Shropshire County Council and Hackney Council, as part of the Agile Streets trial (100).

Although London has excelled in the number of available on-street chargers, only around 1,000 are available at the roadside outside of the capital - that accounts for just one for every 52 electric vehicles on UK roads. This is quite a significant problem for the 62 per cent of drivers without off-street parking, or without their own parking space with a domestic power supply.  

Chris Pateman-Jones, CEO of Connected Kerb, said: "Knowing you can arrive at virtually any location at any time in any vehicle and cheaply charge your battery without inconvenience or faff is the reality we have to deliver to create an EV society.

“Our rollout of public chargers – one of the most ambitious the UK has ever seen – encapsulates that future, helping individuals and businesses to confidently make the switch to electric, reducing their carbon footprint and cutting air pollution.

“Targets are important – for an industry so critical to the decarbonisation of transport, we need goals to work towards and objectives to which we are all accountable. However, they need to be met with action. With deals confirmed for 10,000 chargers this year alone and 30,000 more expected next year, we are demonstrating that we’re getting on with the job and delivering the change that needs to happen – not just talking about it.”

Connected Kerb has installed 1,000 chargers in 2021 alone and expects to install 5,500 more across the UK, with contracts secured for a further 30,000 by the end of 2022. By 2030, the company plans to have 190,000 chargers installed.

Electric vehicle ownership in the UK is increasing rapidly. Just EV sales alone have risen by 88% year-to-date compared to 2020, and one in four UK families intend to buy an electric car in the next five years due to the upcoming 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel vehicles. 

A survey by insurer Direct Line found that 83% of tradespeople would like to run an electric vehicle. As many as 21% of tradespeople surveyed want to switch to an EV specifically to save on fuel costs. Up to 15% of tradespeople wish to change to an EV for environmental reasons.

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