The city of Liverpool, England will be working with ubitricity – a Shell subsidiary – to install a network of 300 on-street electric vehicle (EV) charging points into existing lampposts. This will triple the size of the existing network of 150 charge points to 450, making it the third-largest public charging network in the UK.
The move to increase the network came about after an analysis conducted by the Department for Transport found that the North West had 76% fewer public EV chargers per 100,000 people than London. Charging points locations will be chosen by local residents and businesses.
Cllr Dan Barrington, Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Highways for Liverpool City Council stated, “I’m delighted we’ve begun to install this new network of EV charge points as it provides a huge boost in tackling poor air quality and reducing the city’s carbon footprint. This programme puts down a real mark of intent to provide the necessary infrastructure to help the move away from petrol and diesel powered cars. The fact that the roll-out is being led by community requests means the points are going where the demand is needed most which means they’ll be getting maximum usage. And hopefully the demand will grow, meaning the need for more charging points to be installed.”
The new charging points will be installed directly into existing street lampposts and charge at a speed of up to 5kW. The project is expected to be completed by Spring 2023.
“Liverpool is investing in an impressive on-street electric vehicle (EV) charging network, making the transition to EV much more accessible to their residents. In line with their plans to reach Net Zero by 2030, Liverpool is helping to lead the country in decarbonizing their roads and improving air quality. By creating such a large and accessible public network, Liverpool City Council is paving the way for the residents of Liverpool who want to switch to EV,” said Toby Butler, UK Managing Director of ubitricity.