The UK government has announced a package of nearly £400m to help accelerate EV charging infrastructure rollout across England.
The £381m Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) fund and an additional £15m for the On-Street Residential Charging Scheme (ORCS) are designed to support the installation of tens of thousands of new chargers across the country.
The government has also unveiled its proposals for a zero-emission vehicle mandate which, from next year, will set minimum annual targets for the percentage of new car and van sales that must be zero emission.
The proposed mandate reportedly makes the UK’s path to zero-emission vehicles the fastest in Europe.
The new measures include a credits-based trading system for vehicle manufacturers to bank credits in years when they exceed annual targets for use in future years or trade them with other manufacturers that have fallen short.
If manufacturers do not meet their yearly targets, they could face possible fines of up to £18,000 for every vehicle they miss their target by.
UK technology and decarbonisation minister Jesse Norman said: “As today’s announcement shows, the government is doing more than ever to help the UK move away from petrol and diesel and towards electric vehicles.
“That means investing in charging infrastructure and giving a clear direction to manufacturers, so they can roll out new electric vehicles faster and more efficiently.
“Overall, the UK is leading the way in decarbonising transport, a sector that is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gases.”
The final proposals are being jointly consulted upon by the UK government, alongside Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and are reportedly the single largest carbon saving measure identified in the government’s Net Zero Strategy.
