The National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) has welcomed a Government decision to double its funding of electric vehicle (EV) charge points in residential streets.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps announced this morning (August 12) that an additional £2.5 million would be added to fund more than 1,000 new chargepoints on residential streets.

“It is positive to see that the Government has announced additional funds for chargepoints on residential streets”, said Sue Robinson, director of the NFDA.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has announced an additional £2.5 million to fund the installation of over 1,000 new chargepoints. The allocation of funding for on-street residential chargepoints is part of the £1.5 billion investment underpinned by the Road to Zero Strategy.

The strategy will also deliver £37 million of Government investment into British engineering to develop electric chargepoint infrastructure that could rapidly expand the UK chargepoint network for people without off-street parking and put the UK on the map as the best place in the world to own an EV.

Shapps said that it was vital that electric vehicle drivers “feel confident about the availability of chargepoints near their homes, and that charging an electric car is seen as easy as plugging in a smartphone”.

Additionally, in July, the Government announced that all newly installed rapid and higher powered chargepoints should provide debit or credit card payment by spring 2020.

Robinson said: “Today’s announcement is a step in the right direction, but it is vital that the Government continues to invest to improve the charging infrastructure currently available.

“The findings of our latest Consumer Attitude Survey suggested that ‘access to charging’ still represents a barrier to buying an electric vehicle for 53% of consumers.

“The charging process needs to become as straightforward as possible to give consumers the confidence to own an electric car.

“NFDA will continue to liaise with the Government to support the development of the electric vehicle market through coordinated efforts where industry and sector stakeholders collaborate as in our Electric Vehicle Approved (EVA) accreditation scheme”.

The £2.5 million sum announced by Shapps today will further support the on-street residential chargepoint scheme, launched in 2017, which aims to help people access charging infrastructure near their homes when they don’t have off-street parking.

So far, the scheme has already seen 16 local authorities say they will install 1,200 chargepoints this year.

Shapps said: “It’s fantastic that there are now more than 20,000 publicly accessible chargepoints and double the number of electric vehicle chargepoints than petrol stations, but we want to do much more.

“That’s why we are now doubling the funding available for local authorities to continue building the infrastructure we need to super-charge the zero emission revolution – right across the country.”