EV wireless charging set to benefit from £37m government funding
Image credit: Dreamstime
The Government has granted £37m to 12 projects designed to improve the experience of electric car drivers in the UK, including a firm planning to install wireless charging systems on residential streets.
Char.gy was awarded £2.3m to deploy wireless charging technology on residential streets without the need for trailing cables and additional infrastructure.
The firm will trial the technology in Milton Keynes, the London Borough of Redbridge and Buckinghamshire County and the developers say existing electric vehicles can be retrofitted to make use of it.
Richard Stobart, CEO of Char.gy, said it will enable “several parking bays” for every street lamp that they piggyback off and that he believed it will “accelerate the uptake of electric vehicles” in the UK.
Urban Electric, which has developed another novel approach to charging, will receive £3m from the fund. The company plans to roll out ‘pop-up’ chargers which are built into the pavement to provide a “discreet, safe and low-cost” charging solution for electric vehicle drivers without access to off-street parking.
The funds will also be used for projects including the installation of charge points in car parks to enable overnight mass charging and using existing Virgin Media infrastructure to deliver cost-effective charging.
The Government announced a plan in 2017 to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2040. It wants at least half of new cars to be ultra-low emission by 2030.
Future of Mobility Minister Michael Ellis said: “We’re charging up the transport revolution and investing in technologies to transform the experience for electric vehicle drivers.
“Ensuring the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles is reliable and innovative is encouraging more people to join the record numbers of ultra-low emission vehicle users already on UK roads.”
Jack Cousens, head of roads policy for the AA, said: “One of the biggest hurdles towards large scale electric vehicle uptake is the ability to charge overnight where an owner doesn’t own or have access to a personal and regular parking space. Wireless charging may prove to be the solution for residential streets and has the added benefits of having less of a footprint on the pavement as there are no cables to trip over.”
“Investing in the nation’s charging network will help counter a perceived lack of charging points but more needs to be done in the short-term to convince drivers to replace their petrol or diesel vehicle to an electric car.”
Demand for new alternatively fuelled cars fell by nearly 12 per cent year-on-year last month. It is the first time the sector has had negative growth since April 2017.
Government grants for new low-emission cars were slashed in October last year, meaning hybrid models are no longer eligible for the scheme. The DfT said it is now focusing on zero-emission models.
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