DEVON County Council (DCC) has been awarded more than £7m of Government funding to support its delivery of thousands of new, publicly accessible, Electric Vehicle (EV) charging points across the county over the next few years.

The capital funding comes from the Department for Transport’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund.

The Fund aims to support the roll-out of electric vehicle charging infrastructure across England, for drivers without off-street parking. and we’ve received one of the largest allocations in the country.

The announcement follows DCC’s adoption of the Devon Electric Vehicle Charging Strategy last year.

In the Strategy, the council highlight that a key barrier to the uptake of EVs in Devon is the availability of suitable charging infrastructure, particularly in remote and rural areas.

To address this, DCC’s strategy recommends that wit support the delivery of 2,000 more charging points by 2030.

It adds that there should be a particular focus on charging points on residential streets in rural and remote areas with electric grid constraints, where higher uptakes of EVs are forecast and communities without or with limited access to off-street parking.

The delivery of Devon’s LEVI scheme is set to begin in 2025 and will significantly expand on an already growing network of on and off-street EV charging points.

Two schemes the council have led are due for completion this year and will deliver over 300 charging point sockets across Devon and Torbay.

The DELETTI project, part funded by The European Regional Development Fund and working with DCC’s local authority partners, will deliver charging points at over 100 car parks in areas including East Devon, Exeter, Mid Devon, North Devon, Teignbridge, Torbay and West Devon.

While the on-street Rapid Charging Devon project, in partnership with and financed by the private sector, will result in charging points across 34 sites. 

Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council’s Cabinet Member for Highway Management, said: ‘This announcement is fantastic news for Devon.

‘The sale of new petrol and diesel cars is due to end in 2035 and you can see every day an increase in the number of EVs out on our roads.

‘And as more households without off-street parking acquire EVs the need for publicly accessible charging points also grows. 

‘A key obstacle in the uptake of EVs is the availability of suitable charging infrastructure.

‘This funding will help us to deliver the EV infrastructure that is so badly needed, where it is needed.’