The UK’s electric vehicle (EV) charging network will be boosted by the largest deployment of on-street charging by a local authority.
Surrey County Council and charging point provider Connected Curb have announced a plan to install 10,000 new public chargers across the county by 2030.
There are currently fewer than 39,000 public charging points across the UK.
Car organizations have raised concerns that the growth of the charging network is not keeping up with the demand for electric vehicles.
More than a fifth of new cars sold in the UK last year had a plug.
The project in Surrey is expected to cost £60m and will be funded by Connected Kerb, which charges drivers for using their devices.
Connected Curb chief executive Chris Pateman-Jones said: “If a local authority can provide such a significant boost to the UK’s charging network, imagine what we could achieve by 2030 if every city, county and authority combined were empowered to do the same.
“Local authorities can become the driving force behind the deployment of charging infrastructure across the country.”
The council’s Transportation, Infrastructure and Growth Cabinet Member Matt Furniss said, “High-quality, reliable, and accessible charging infrastructure is critical to accelerating EV adoption across the county and meeting the needs of all of our communities. local communities.
“Surrey County Council is committed to being a zero carbon county by 2050, and a big part of our achievement comes from supporting residents to switch to electric vehicles.”
Transport Minister Jesse Norman said: “Today’s announcement marks another step in the growth of our network of public charging points, allowing more and more motorists to switch to electric vehicles.
“The UK is seeing hundreds of millions of pounds of private investment in EV charging across the country, with valuable support from the government, and it’s great to see innovative UK companies like Connected Curb working with local authorities to deliver ambitious projects. like this. .”
Sales of new petrol and diesel cars and vans will be banned in the UK from 2030.