Norfolk towns and villages to get electric vehicle chargers

Norfolk County Council has been awarded £6.4m from the government's Local Electric Vehicle (LEVI) fund to provide public charge points across the county.

And Graham Plant, the Conservative-controlled council's cabinet member for highways, infrastructure and transport has given the go-ahead for the authority to start the process of finding companies to install and operate those charge points.

Graham Plant, Norfolk County Council cabinet member for highways, infrastructure and transport (Image: Norfolk County Council)

While the council has yet to reveal where the charge points would be installed, they will focus on areas where people have no suitable charging facilities near or at their homes.

The council has agreed it will split the procurement process to find companies into three phases, with two to three district council areas in each phase of the competition.

READ MORE: 'Only the rich can afford electric cars' says deputy council leader

The council says this will mean there could be different operators appointed for different districts.

But it says measures will be put into place to ensure drivers get a seamless experience between each area, including standardising payment options and the type of connections available.

Norwich has already had some public chargers installed. The council awarded a contract to Blink Charging UK for chargepoints on 30 roads across the city.

The first five on-street charging points went live in late May and between then and the end of June the council said they were each used an average of 10 times a week.

Norfolk has one of the lowest proportions of electric vehicles and vehicle chargers in the UK.

But council bosses, who unveiled an electric vehicle strategy in 2021, want to encourage more people to use them, with the government due to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2035.

The council says the use of the LEVI funding will subsidise private investment to make Norfolk communities more financially viable to prospective investors.

One private company which has invested in Norfolk is Gridserve, which opened an electric vehicle charging station at Postwick in April 2022, offering shopping options alongside 22 high-power ports.

However, WH Smith, M&S Food and the Post Office in the station have shut, with Gridserve saying new business partners are due to move in.