The electric car revolution is set to grow in Oxfordshire following a successful County Council bid to obtain a share of £37 million government fund. As part of this, Oxfordshire is expected to launch two major initiatives which will provide more charging points for electric vehicles across the country.
Innovate UK has awarded the funding to the projects, under the government’s £37 million investment into British engineering to transform electric charging infrastructure, revolutionising the experience for the record levels of electric vehicle (EV) drivers on UK roads.
Park and Charge Project:
This project will see up to 300 charging points installed in residential ‘charging hubs’ using car parks located in residential areas where properties do not have their own off-street parking. The pilot will provide drivers from all over the county who don’t have access to home charging on a private driveway, with chargers placed at a local ‘hub’ where they can park and charge their EV overnight. Oxfordshire County Council has been awarded around £750K of funding for this initiative, of which the majority is earmarked for the district and city councils.
VPACH (Virgin Park and Charge) Project:
This project will use existing Virgin Media cabinets to reduce the cost of installing roadside EV chargers and minimise the amount of street clutter needed for power supply. This project could see on-street EV charging deployed in Oxfordshire in towns and villages where Virgin Media are already present. Oxfordshire County Council is set to receive £100K of funding towards this scheme.
Both projects are expected to use geospatial planning tools to map EV demand, electrical grid constraints and infrastructure costs to find the most suitable charging point locations.
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Paul Basham Associates Travel Plan 