Highways England has awarded a multi-million-pound contract as it aims to ensure 95% of its motorways and major A roads are within 20 miles of a charge point.
The contract, worth a total £2.8million, will see more than 50 electric vehicle charging points being installed across the country within the next nine months.
Mark Collins, environmental designated fund (Carbon) portfolio manager and project lead at Highways England, said: “To help improve air quality and reduce carbon emissions we’re introducing more electric charging points, at locations near to the network, for example at nearby town centres. This shows that we are looking ahead to meet the future demand for this facility.
“This contract is about supporting drivers of electric vehicles using our network. It will give them additional charging facilities just off England’s motorways and major A roads to help them make longer journeys and reduce the anxiety of potentially running out of power. We look forward to the benefits this will provide drivers on our roads.”
Roads Minister, Jesse Norman MP said: “The Government wants the UK to be the best place in the world to own an electric vehicle, leading the way to a zero emission future.
“Installing extra vehicle charging points along or nearby our motorways and main roads will help more businesses and people to make longer, cleaner and greener journeys in their electric vehicles.”
The contract has been awarded to BP Chargemaster to carry out work in the north of the country and Swarco UK in the south.
It includes initial installation and commissioning of facilities followed by ongoing operation and maintenance for the seven-year period of the contract.
David Martell, chief executive of BP Chargemaster, said: “Access to convenient, fast and reliable charging points across the UK will help enable the mass adoption of electric vehicles.
“We have been focused on creating such infrastructure over the past 10 years and are very proud to be working with Highways England to expand the provision of rapid charging points so that an even greater number of drivers can make the switch to electric.”
Justin Meyer, General Manager at Swarco eVolt, added: “We are delighted to have been selected by Highways England for this project to expand the national network of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, it is testament to the range and reliability of our systems and our strong support network across the UK.”
The work being carried out under this contract is in addition to electric charging points being installed as part of Highways England’s collaboration with local authorities during this road investment period (2015 to 2021).
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Gareth has more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist having started his career in local newspapers in the 1990s. Prior to joining Fleet News in 2008, he worked in the public sector as a media advisor and is currently news editor at Fleet News.
The Engineer - 08/03/2019 08:55
Hopefully all rapid chargers if just off main routes. Absolutely no point in installing 5 hour slow chargers now, who has that much time to kill. I also suspect usage will, like other networks, price people off them except if absolutely desperate instead of encouraging regular use. Mostly just gathering dust like the other highway network. With newer vehicles having longer ranges, 'desperation charging' will become less and less necessary. Public chargers need to have attractive rates and be fast enough to fit in with planned travel breaks causing the least inconvenience to be truly useful. So far only Tesla seems able to grasp this. Which is why if you stop in at Hopwood services for example you will see half a dozen Tesla superchargers in use at any time whilst the non-Tesla public charger sits rarely used.