£37m for electric avenues to 'revolutionise' low-emission car ownership in UK

Wireless charging, solar-powered forecourts and 10 other cutting-edge infrastructure projects could “revolutionise the experience of owning an electric vehicle in the UK”, the government has claimed.

It announced £37m of funding for the schemes today (9 July), aiming to encourage adoption of electric vehicles ahead of its ‘net zero’ carbon emissions target in 2050.

Electric charging company Char.gy received £2.3m to deploy wireless charging technology on residential streets, without trailing cables or additional infrastructure. Working with the Open University and University of Warwick’s WMG, the firm will install its induction charging equipment on streets in Milton Keynes, the London Borough of Redbridge and Buckinghamshire.

“We are excited to show that our ability to retrofit to existing electric vehicles and enable several parking bays per lamp column, without the need for cables, will accelerate the uptake of electric vehicles,” said CEO Richard Stobart.

Other investments include more than £3m for Urban Foresight to install “discreet, safe and low-cost” chargers into pavements, installation of car-park chargepoints for “mass charging” at night and semi-rapid charging using a low-power grid connection.

The funding comes one year after the start of the Road to Zero strategy, including plans to massively boost the number of ultra-low emission vehicles. Figures released by the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders earlier this month showed a 60.3% increase in 2019 battery electric vehicle registrations, compared to the same period in 2018. The same figures showed a 29.6% drop in plug-in hybrids however.

“There is a justifiable concern about the drag on the adoption of electric vehicles in the UK due to the limits on the speed of rolling out the associated charging infrastructure,” Sebastian Speight, managing director of infrastructure at investment company Ingenious, told Professional Engineering.

“There are currently a number of market participants developing and implementing strategies for rolling out charging infrastructure but there is also a reasonable degree of uncertainty about the future patterns of consumer behaviour, which creates a level of risk in these business models.”

More public involvement, such as the government funding, should help clarify issues with the technology and increase availability of private investment, he said.