The rollout of electric vehicle (EV) chargers is accelerating with West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker announcing another 10,000 connection points to be installed on the region’s roadsides.
Latest Department for Transport statistics show the number of chargers is already growing at a faster rate here than in most areas of the country.
There are now more than 4,000 publicly accessible charging points across the region’s road network – the fifth highest number of all English regions outside London and a 36 per cent increase in the past year alone.
It means residents and businesses in the West Midlands who have already made the switch now have access to the equivalent of around 11 chargers per square mile.
That number will continue to grow with Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) – which is part of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) – working with local councils across the region to use funding secured from government to install thousands more over the coming years.
This includes almost 200 charging points at nine ultra-fast filling stations where drivers will be able to power their vehicles with 100 miles of range in less than 15 minutes.
The Mayor says: “The West Midlands is the beating heart of the UK car industry and I want us to lead the charge into a new era of electrification.”
He continues: “Our roadside EV charging network is already one of the fastest-growing in the country, but I’m not stopping there. I’m giving the green light for 10,000 more charging connection points as part of our transport revolution.”
Range anxiety is one of the main reasons that drivers and company bosses have been hesitant about switching to EVs with calls for the nation’s charging infrastructure to be ramped up.
TfWM is expanding the region’s EV charging capacity with funding secured by the Mayor from the Department for Transport’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund and as part of the region’s 1.3 billion pounds City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS).
This continued investment to provide access to even more chargers will address those concerns and drive the region’s green transport revolution and reach net zero by 2041.
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