Sheffield move to help homeowners to install more EV car charging points
It's thanks to new government funding
A share of government funding will be used to help more drivers in Sheffield get access to electric vehicle charging points.
At present, Sheffield has 400 public EV charge points including 93 run by the council, Sheffield City Council’s transport, regeneration and clinate policy committee heard on Wednesday (December 17).
Councillors were keen to see more public charge points being provided to encourage more drivers to change over to EV cars, especially in terraced or other homes that don’t have driveways.
However, two Green Party councillors abstained on a vote to accept a share of £8.9m government funding allocated to the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority. They also abstained on a plan to trial pavement channels to make home EV charging safer.
Under the scheme, the council to act as a partner in a joint commissioning exercise to appoint an external provider to deliver public electric vehicle charging infrastructure across South Yorkshire over 15 years.
The contract will be funded through the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) fund.
Councillors were told that there would be an option for some or all of the council-run charge points to be run under the contract, if this proves to be advantageous.
A report to the committee said: “A number of rapid sites in the city have also been subject to cable theft – an issue common in much of the North and Midlands – so a robust approach to tackling theft and vandalism is needed.”
The council would get £60,000 of a proposed £300,000 annual concession fee to be paid by the contractor, plus a 32% share of any excess revenue.
During the meeting, city resident Anton Levsiushkin called for the council to act quickly to use government funding available until March 31, 2026 to trial the installation of pavement channels or gullies.
These would enable drivers to charge their cars from home without trailing wires creating a potential hazard to passers-by.
A response to his request said that the mayoral authority and council are working with the government in order to take advantage of the funding. This includes obtaining an extension to the funding deadline.
Coun Ian Horner said that the cost of secondhand electric cars is starting to fall, meaning they are not just the preserve of the wealthy.
Coun Dimond said: “I’ve got concerns about this and I’m disappointed that the government has ruled out public provision.
“This is going to become very profitable and we’ve got a history in this country of failed privatisations, so while I see the need for this I’m not content with the approach of the government so I will abstain.”