Connected Kerb and Surrey County Council today announces they will take the lead role in delivering the 10,000 electric vehicle (EV) charge points needed across the county by 2030.
The rollout will see charge points installed at over 1,500 locations across streets and public car parks in Surrey to accelerate EV uptake in the area.
The contract will release up to £60million of investment from Connected Kerb to install public EV charging points both on-street and in public car parks. At present, there is one charger per 9,000 residents in Surrey but the rollout will see this figure dramatically increase. The partnership expects to deliver over 5,000 fast charging points by 2027, including over 500 rapid charging points across the county.
The recent net Zero Review, published by the Government’s advisor Rt Hon Chris Skidmore MP, highlighted the opportunity for local authorities to take a leading role in the rollout of charging infrastructure[i]. The partnership between Surrey County Council and Connected Kerb supports the delivery of ambitious EV charging infrastructure rollouts at the scale and pace needed to meet targets set by the government and to keep pace with rapidly growing EV adoption, up 40% in 2022 compared to 2021[ii].
Chris Pateman-Jones, CEO of Connected Kerb, said: “If one local authority can deliver such a significant boost to the UK’s charging network, just imagine what we could achieve by 2030 if every city, county, and combined authority was empowered to do the same. The recent Net Zero Review was clear – local authorities can become the driving force behind the rollout of charging infrastructure across the country, and our partnership with Surrey County Council is case and point.
“If local authorities are the door to a clean transport future, then charging networks like Connected Kerb are the key, providing the tools and expertise needed to unlock the transition at the pace and scale required to reach net zero. Although the Government’s estimate of 300,000 chargers by 2030 may feel ambitious, it’s eminently possible – and necessary – to achieve; this deal proves it.”
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Matt Furniss, Cabinet Member for Transport, Infrastructure and Growth, Surrey County Council, said: “High-quality, reliable, and accessible charging infrastructure is critical to accelerating the uptake of electric vehicles across the county and serving the needs of all our local communities. Surrey County Council has a commitment to be a carbon net zero county by 2050, and a large part of us achieving that come from supporting residents to make the switch to electric vehicles.
“Over the last two years, we’ve installed over 100 EV charge points in Surrey, and this has given us the opportunity to trial different suppliers and processes. We have an established relationship with Connected Kerb and this contract will enable us to expand our network of charge points and speed up the installation process, to provide services to our residents faster.”
The partnership will see a rapid rollout of on-street charge points, with plans to install hundreds of charge points within the first year. The ambition is to make one in five of the EV charging bays accessible to drivers with disabilities, in recognition of the need to make EV adoption a practical reality for the 2.35 million blue badge holders on UK roads[iii].
News of the partnership with Surrey comes as Connected Kerb publishes its annual report, ‘Sustainable Mobility For Everyone’. The report outlines all deals secured by the company in 2022, which has grown its total network to 1,700 public charging points at over 550 locations across the UK. This directly supports the findings of the Net Zero Review which highlighted the opportunity for local authorities to take a leading role in the UK’s EV charging rollout.
Inclusivity and accessibility were also central to both the Net Zero Review and Connected Kerb’s annual report, which focus on ensuring equal access to reliable charging in all regions, urban and rural, to support drivers without access to driveways.
Rt Hon Jesse Norman MP, Minister of State for Decarbonisation and Technology, Department for Transport, said: “Today’s announcement marks another step in the growth of our public charge point network, enabling more and more motorists to make the switch to electric vehicles.
“The UK is seeing hundreds of millions of pounds of private investment in EV charging across the country, with valuable support from the Government, and it’s great to see innovative British companies like Connected Kerb working with local authorities to deliver ambitious projects such as this one”.
The rollout in Surrey will consist of Connected Kerb’s entire product range, including 7kW and 22kW Gecko chargers, Chameleon chargers for on-street and car parks, the wall-mounted Limpet and the Scarab throughout housing developments. Connected Kerb’s Chameleon charger has been designed specifically to cater to those with accessibility needs.
In addition to the EV charging points, the contract will delivery significant value to Surrey residents through Connected Kerb’s social value projects. These will cover a range of initiatives including working with local educational centres to provide industry support to pupils interested in learning about EV charge points, providing employability support to vulnerable young people, as well as supporting a number of charities within the county.
Notes:
[i]https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1128689/mission-zero-independent-review.pdf
[ii] https://www.zap-map.com/ev-market-statistics/
[iii] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/blue-badge-scheme-statistics-2021/blue-badge-scheme-statistics-england-2021
