Only 972 EV charging points have been installed in the UK with funding from a government scheme introduced in April of last year.
The EV chargepoint grant replaced the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS) in the spring of 2022, but has helped to fund less than 1,000 new charging devices, according to figures released by the Department for Transport (DfT). The previous schemes, the EVHS and the Domestic Recharging Scheme, have helped fund over 375,000 new EV charging devices since 2013.
The EV chargepoint grant provides funding for landlords, residential car parks, and flat owner-occupiers and people living in rented properties. Up to October 1, £682,000 in grants had been paid out to help install the 972 devices.
There was always likely to be a fall in take-up of the new scheme, because it was not eligible to home owners with off-street parking, the largest market for new residential EV charge points. But the very low number of projects must be concerning for the government, who had changed their domestic EV strategy to focus on the rental and social housing sector.
The EV chargepoint grant provides funding of up to 75% towards the cost of installing a smart charge point at residential locations. The majority (562 devices), say the DfT, have been installed for private flat owners and tenants.
The next largest grant type is for residential car parks with 355 charge points installed accounting for 37% of all installations. The remaining 6% is for landlords (55 devices).
Grant uptake by consumers, says the DfT, is likely to be dependent on a variety of factors, including access to an electric vehicle, access to off-street parking, leasehold/tenancy properties, car ownership, rurality and income.
The South-East had the highest number of charging device installations under the EVHS (62,465) scheme, accounting for 19% of total devices installed.
