8:09 am, January 30, 2025
The Government has responded to calls for more investment into EV infrastructure by pledging to pump £65m into a kerbside charging firm.
Revealed in chancellor Rachel Reeves’ growth speech yesterday (Jan 29), Labour says it will invest the figure into Connected Kerb so that it can extend its current EV charging network.
It is believed that the majority of funds comes from the Government’s National Wealth Fund (NWF), which will take an equity stake in Connected Kerb as part of the deal.
Meanwhile, the final £10m will come from Aviva Investors.
The specialist charging firm aims to improve the accessibility and availability of chargers to those who aren’t able to top-up their electric vehicles at home.
Its range of chargers are situated in areas such as supermarkets and residential streets and, to date, it has installed some 10,000 chargers across the UK.
The announcement comes after years of calls for more help from the car industry, with manufacturer bosses welcoming the announcement yesterday.
Adam Wood, Renault UK managing director, said: ‘Investment in on-street charging infrastructure is especially welcome, both for addressing a critical requirement to give people without a driveway an easy, affordable way to charge an electric car, and for signalling a firm Government commitment to making the transition to electric vehicles happen to the timescales it has set with its mandate.
‘This announcement gives confidence that legislators are ready to back their ambition with investment.’
James Taylor, managing director of Vauxhall, added: ‘Support for kerbside charging is critical to ensure nobody is left behind on the UK’s electrification journey, with millions of drivers without access to driveways reliant on an effective public charging network.
‘Vauxhall is working closely with leading charge point operators, such as Connected Kerb, through its Electric Streets of Britain initiative, which was introduced to help councils across the UK with the acceleration of public charge point roll out.
‘Vauxhall invites drivers to register their on-street charging needs on one national portal and then that data is passed to councils for them to know where residents actually want to see them installed in their area.
🚨 Breaking News! 🚨 @ConnectedKerb has just been acknowledged by Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves in her recent speech, announcing Connected Kerb’s whopping £65m investment from @NatWealthFund & @avivainvestors to expand the UK’s public EV charging network to 40,000… pic.twitter.com/5us7XEz1r9
— Connected Kerb (@ConnectedKerb) January 29, 2025
‘So far over 12,000 streets across the country have been logged as needing on-street charging.
‘This announcement from the chancellor that the Government will provide extra funding for kerbside chargepoints is a welcome boost to the UK’s electric vehicle (EV) charging network at a pivotal time.
‘We need to ensure that these new on-street chargers, which are key to enabling those without a driveway to charge their EV, get installed in the right towns and streets where they will get used – our Electric Streets campaign sets out precisely to help with that.’
