Liverpool seeks to spend another £10m on street-side chargers
Liverpool City Region, a mayoral combined authority and local enterprise partnership area in North West England, comprises six local authorities: the five metropolitan boroughs in Merseyside and Cheshire County.
A lack of accessible public EV charging points is a common barrier to EV adoption across the UK and especially beyond the capital region. Analysis from the Department of Transport found that as of July 2022, the North-West had 76% fewer public EV chargers per 100,000 people than London.
Liverpool wants to change that. “Alongside the investments we’re making to build a London-style transport network, including £70m in new and improved active travel infrastructure, we’re making our area the greenest place possible to get around,” said the Mayor.
Coming back to the new funding, the Combined Authority names households without private driveways or off-street parking as primary beneficiaries. If plans are agreed at this week’s meeting, funds could also be used to install charge points at key locations like railway station car parks, it writes.
Currently, Liverpool City Region claims around 600 public charge points but expects the number to “markedly increase” with this new funding.
Earlier measures included a deal for kerbside charge points agreed in January of this year with Siemens-backed Ubitricity working to roll out 300 lamp post chargers.
This is independent of the £10m to be agreed this week. The Combined Authority will draw up plans for how best to invest the funding with the local councils and says more information on specific numbers and locations of charge points will follow.
Liverpool City Region was the first in the country to declare a climate emergency in 2019 and worked out a Clean Air Plan as early as 2018. Liverpool is aiming for net zero by 2030.
0 Comments