Birmingham City Council to rollout 560 EV chargepoints

Birmingham City Council, in partnership with ubitricity, the UK’s largest chargepoint operator, is to rollout a pilot of 560 lamppost EV chargepoints across residential areas of the city. This will ensure that areas where private off-street is limited are connected and part of an EV network, with the charging devices to be installed across 82 streets.

This is the first project of its kind in Birmingham and is set to become the new standard for EV charging, having been approved following data showing that most electric cars are kept at homes without access to a private driveway. Not having access to overnight charging at your house could deter new customers from transitioning to EVs, and so this initiative, part of Birmingham’s wider Electric Vehicle Charging Strategy, is aimed at improving access to EV charging infrastructure.

ubitricity is a subsidiary of Shell and will supply, install, own, operate, and maintain these new charging devices on behalf of Birmingham City Council, which will aid in the city having more people transitioning to EVs.

Installing the chargepoints will take less than an hour per unit and will minimise disruption, meeting the Council’s key requirements to avoid street clutter. As part of the Office of Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) funding, the first 300 chargepoints have already been signalled, with the remaining 260 to be installed before the end of this coming spring.

As transport makes up around a third of CO2 emissions in Birmingham, Birmingham City Council set an ambition for the city to become net-zero by 2030 in 2019. Shifting vehicles to ultra-low and zero-emissions vehicles, then, is a vital part of Birmingham being able to reach this target. As part of this effort, the city is focused on ensuring that EV charging infrastructure is accessible to all residents, including those who use taxis, car clubs, and commercial fleets, as well as private individuals who don’t have off-street parking.

Councillor Majid Mahmood, cabinet member for environment and transport at Birmingham City Council, said: “While our focus as a council is on delivering the Birmingham Transport Plan and encouraging people to swap private vehicles for public transport, we also want to ensure that, for those who require use of a car, we have the infrastructure in place to facilitate use of low or zero-emission vehicles."

Stuart Wilson, UK managing director of ubitricity, added: “ubitricity is delighted to be supporting Birmingham City Council as they begin this journey to create one of the largest public EV charging networks outside London, encourage the transition to electric vehicles, and helping to create a cleaner and healthier environment for the people of Birmingham.”