£7 million secured for more electric charging points

We'll see hundreds more electric car charging points across the West of England - thanks to £7 million of funding for what's being called an 'electric car revolution'.

£6.6 million has been secured from the Government for buying and installing hundreds more vehicle charging points, with £560,000 going towards 'administering' the points too

Currently, there are over 580 public chargers in the West of England, but forecasts suggest we need to more than triple the number of charging points if Bristol is to meet its net zero carbon targets by 2030.

Some forecasters think more than 1,800 could be needed to reach the ambitious West of England net-zero-by-2030 target.

The provisional cash is dependent on suitable plans to be agreed with ministers and local authorities, and adds to the £5 million brought forward by Mr Norris already as part of his £60 million Green Recovery Plan to install charge points across the West of England.

That includes more than 200 planned in this financial year alone.

Mr Norris himself stressed today the need to go “much further and much faster” as he vowed to redouble efforts to “turbocharge” the number of charge points in the region.

He said: "In order to have an ‘electric vehicle revolution’ we need to turbocharge efforts to make charging your car as easy – if not easier – than filling up at the pump. That's why this is such a big win for our region as my West of England Mayoral Combined Authority accelerates the rollout of easily available, reliable and straightforward to use charging points in the West of England - to make it easier than ever to own an electric car, wherever in the region you live. That’s also a vital step if we are going to reach our very ambitious net-zero targets.”

Sales of new petrol and diesel cars and vans in the UK will be banned from 2030.

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