http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/sustainable/olev/infrastructure/

Electric Vehicle Infrastructure

To use their electric vehicles, motorists will need to be able to recharge them. Many will be able to do this at home by installing a low-cost, weatherproof, external socket, like those used for electric lawn mowers, or use an existing socket in their garages.

At the same time, publicly accessible charging infrastructure in key destinations like in work and shopping centre car parks will help drivers of electric and plug-in hybrid cars recharge when away from home.

Early on, publicly accessible infrastructure will need to be delivered by a combination of Government (both Central and Local) and private sector contributions. In the future, we expect that the private sector, like electricity suppliers and distributors, will take the lead in infrastructure provision. Many places in the UK have already begun to install charging points. Some are on-street or in public car parks, for example the City of Westminster has 12 on street and 48 in its car parks. Others can be found in shopping centres; the Westfield Centre in west London has 30 EV charging bays and Leicester’s Highcross Centre has over 100.

Further details of charging point locations are available at:

* http://www.ev-network.org.uk
* http://www.newride.org.uk

Government provides financial help to install EV charging infrastructure in two ways:
Plugged-In Places Infrastructure Framework

Plugged-In Places, launched on 19 November 2009, will create a critical mass of infrastructure in between 3 and 6 lead cities or regions in the UK. This will support the early market for electric vehicles that will be entering the UK market in the near future. The lessons learned from these cities or regions will be used to inform the future development of a national recharging infrastructure.

Seed funding, worth up to £30 million, will be made available to consortia in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland made of local authorities, businesses, electricity distributors and suppliers and other organisations like the Regional Development Agencies. This funding will support installation of various types of recharging infrastructure on-street and in local authority, work, retail and leisure facility car parks. The funds will be made available in two phases.

Consortia will need to show how their plans fit in with other Government objectives, like improving local air quality, and create local incentives to further encourage the uptake of electric vehicles.

Further details on the scheme and an application form can be downloaded below:

Application guidance (PDF, 232 KB)

Application form (Word, 2,000,000 KB)
Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Grant Programme (IGP)

The IGP provides small grants to organisations across the country to encourage them to install refuelling or recharging stations for alternative fuels. Funding is available for hydrogen, electric, natural gas/biogas stations and other non traditional fuels.

Further details are available at: http://www.cenex.co.uk/igp_index.asp

For enquiries about recharging points: PluggedInPlaces@dft.gsi.gov.uk
Planning

On 17 November, John Healy, the Housing and Planning Minister, launched a consultation which seeks to extend permitted development rights to those wishing to install electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

More details about the consultation can be found at: http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/microgenelectriccars .