Nottingham gets almost £2m to install electric vehicle chargers

Nottingham City Council has so far installed 170 electric vehicle (EV) charge points in off-street locations such as park and ride sites and council-owned car parks across the city.

Five councils in the region have now been granted £17.6m to install a total of 8,000 new chargers across their areas, helping to further create up to 11,138 jobs in the whole electric vehicle charging supply chain.

The Midlands’ Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Consortium, alongside transport body Midlands Connect, successfully bid for the money to help the region significantly increase the number of EV charge points across both rural and urban areas.

Council reports show Nottingham will be getting £1.785m from the Department for Transport’s (DfT) Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund.

The fund launched in 2022 to support local councils in England to workwith the electric charger operator industry to improve the roll out of local infrastructure, with a focus on supporting residents who do not have access to private off-street parking.

Coun Angela Kandola (Lab), portfolio holder for highways, transport and planning, said: “We want to support people to make more sustainable transport choices and giving people more opportunity to charge electric vehicles is a step in the right direction.

“Our work with Midlands Connect and other local authorities will see the introduction of more publicly accessible charge points in local neighbourhoods in the coming years.”

It comes after analysis by Midlands Connect found the midlands needs more than 58,000 new public EV charging points by the end of 2030 to meet demand, with more than two million electric vehicles expected on the region’s roads by the end of the decade.

Maria Machancoses, Midlands Connect chief executive, added: “It’s great to see Government supporting our collaborative approach to delivering EV and this will lead to thousands of new chargers being installed, transforming how we travel around our region and beyond.

“We are helping councils working together to charge ahead and provide this vital infrastructure for their communities.

“The collaboration draws on their collective knowledge and expertise to deliver on street charging, making it even easier for those without driveways to make the switch to cleaner travel.”