Shell to install 50,000 on-street EV chargers by 2025

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Energy firm announces plan to support EVs owners without private parking or charging

Oil giant Shell has announced that it plans to install up to 50,000 on-street chargers for electric vehicles by 2025.

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The energy firm said the move was part of an effort to make EV charging more accessible to UK households without private parking.

The Government plans to ban the sale of new combustion engined cars from 2030 and encourage drivers to buy EVs but concerns have been raised about access to charging infrastructure for millions of drivers.

Shell will roll out its plans through ubitricity - which it bought earlier this year. Ubitricity currently operates 3,600 on-street charging points, mounted in existing infrastructure such as lamp posts.

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The programme will be rolled out via ubitricity The programme will be rolled out via ubitricity
The programme will be rolled out via ubitricity | Shutterstock

Shell said it would support local councils to install chargers by absorbing any upfront costs not covered by the existing government funding, which contributes 75 per cent of the installation cost.

It is estimated that EV owners currently do 80 per cent of their charging at home but data from the National Audit Office shows that 60 per cent of urban households in England don’t have off-street parking and therefore have nowhere to install a home charging point. Around the UK as a whole, it is estimated that between 30 and 40 per cent of households don’t have off-street parking.

A Freedom of Information request by energy firm Centrica earlier this year revealed that, despite the growing demand, 126 councils around the UK had no plans to install on-street chargers between now and 2025.

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David Bunch, Shell’s UK country chair, said: “It’s vital to speed up the pace of EV charger installation across the UK and this aim and financing offer is designed to help achieve that.

“Whether at home, at work or on-the-go, we want to give drivers across the UK accessible EV charging options, so that more drivers can switch to electric.”

The UK Committee for Climate Change has said that the UK needs 150,000 public charge points by 2025 to keep pace with demand and a separate report by the Competitions and Markets Authority estimates that the country will need at least 250,000 by 2030.

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Transport Minister Rachel Maclean said: “As more and more people make the switch to electric, this is a great example of how private investment is being used alongside Government support to ensure that our EV infrastructure is fit for the future.”

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