Barry White
More than 8,700 public EV chargers were installed in the UK in the year to 22 December, bringing the total available to more than 37,000, according to Zap-Map, a data company https://www.zap-map.com/statistics/. That represented a 30% year-on-year increase, slower than the 38% annual growth in sales of battery electric cars during the year to November.
The Johnson government announced a target of 300,000 publicly available chargers by 2030, when the sale of new pure internal combustion engine cars and diesel cars will be banned. The sale of hybrid vehicles will continue until 2035. The Guardian calculates https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/01/record-number-of-public-electric-vehicle-chargers-installed-in-uk-in-2022 that year-on-year growth of 30% in the number of chargers installed would be enough to hit the target, although that would mean annual installations more than doubling to 19,000 by 2025 and accelerating from there.
In November and December North Yorkshire CC held a short public consultation ‘about measures identified within their electric vehicles rollout strategy which will help shape the rollout of electric vehicles charging infrastructure and policy across the county’. The consultation ran from 16 November to 18 December.
According to an earlier council report, https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/news/article/electric-vehicle-charging-network-combat-climate-change the vast rural areas of North Yorkshire present significant problems to ensure a cost-effective network of electric charging points can be introduced, despite drivers being heavily reliant on their cars to make often long journeys through England’s largest county. A lack of off-street parking in some urban and rural areas also presents a barrier for motorists switching to electric vehicles.
Latest council figures show there are almost 4,000 electric vehicles registered in North Yorkshire, and 225 publicly available charge points, and take-up of electric vehicles is rising rapidly each year.
Council officers forecast that 3,161 charge points will be needed by 2030, of which half will need to be funded by the public sector at an estimated cost of £10.3 million. The forecast total number of charge points required is 900 higher than in 2020, which reflects the rapid take-up of electric vehicles since then.
Meanwhile Settle Town Council is studying a survey undertaken by ACE into the provision of EV charging points on lamp posts in the town.
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