A pilot scheme has launched to turn old street cabinets into streetside EV chargers with the aim to improve charging infrastructure.
BT are exploring to potentially turn 60,000 green street cabinets into charger for electric vehicles (EV's).
The plans come from the a pilot where the first EV charger in a cabinet has been installed in East Lothian, Scotland by Etc.. There are plans to bring further pilots over the next months to other areas of the UK.
How many chargers are there?
As of December 2023, according to Zapmap there are 53,906 public chargers available. The West Midlands have 7.6 percent of the total EV chargers.
The implementation of the chargers has come off the back off research conducted by Etc., where 60 percent of people asked said they felt the current charging infrastructure is "inadequate". In the same research, it was found that 78 percent of petrol and diesel drivers said not being able to conveniently charge their car was a barrier to entry.
By 2030, it is expected a minimum of 300,000 UK electric car chargers to be available.
Tom Guy, Managing Director Etc., at BT Group said "Our new charging solution is a huge step in bringing EV charging kerbside and exploring how we can address key barriers customers are currently facing.
"This is a key step in our mission to build products and services right now that work for the future, with positive transformation at the heart."
How do they work?
The way the cabinets work is by retrofitting the cabinets with a device that enables renewable energy to be shared alongside the existing broadband service. As a result, there is no need to add in a new power connection.
Cabinets that are currently being used for copper broadband or are due to be retired will see the technology if space and power supplied to the cabinet allow.
How can this help?
Melanie Shufflebotham, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Zapmap said "Currently there are 20,000 on-street chargers across the UK, so an additional 60,000 more charge points from BT cabinets would be a step change in provision.
"There are many households that want to switch to an EV but are held back as they do not have off-street charging."
Gary Cambridge, a car dealer and EV owner said "They will provide more places to charge.
"As more electric cars are purchased and used, if the charging network doesn’t expand we will get overcrowding and people won't be able to charge."
While the project is a big step towards reaching EV charger targets Ms Shufflebotham added "The reality is that it will take time to first trial and then rollout this quantity of charge points."
Comments