Chancellor announces £55m for kerbside EV charging
Will it be enough to convince private buyers to go electric?
The UK government has announced a £55 million investment in electric vehicle (EV) on-street kerbside charging points as part of plans to improve charging infrastructure for those without private driveways at their homes.
As confirmed by chancellor Rachel Reeves in a speech yesterday (Wednesday), the government’s National Wealth Fund has injected £55 million into Connected Kerb, a British smart charging infrastructure specialist, to expand on-street charging.
That cash is joined by £10 million of equity investment from Aviva Investors, bringing the total cash boost to £65 million.
According to Connected Kerb, the extra funding will help the organisation fulfil its goal of expanding the kerbside charging network “towards 40,000 sockets” — up from the 9,000 already installed by the end of 2024.
“This investment combines Connected Kerb’s proven hardware and advanced software infrastructure with the financial resources of NWF and Aviva to deploy public charging at scale, to all corners of the UK,” said Chris Pateman-Jones, the CEO of Connected Kerb.
“This is a game-changing investment that will give individuals and businesses the confidence to make the switch to driving electric, dramatically reducing carbon emissions and air pollution.”
The UK’s charging infrastructure has been under scrutiny for some time, particularly given the government’s ambitious plans to ensure almost all new cars emit no tailpipe emissions by 2030.
For that to come to fruition, estimates suggest the government will need at least 300,000 public charging points by 2030, although figures from charging data organisation ZapMap show that the UK’s network has grown swiftly over the last few years, they numbered fewer than 74,000 charging points across 37,000 locations in December 2024.
Public chargers — and kerbside chargers in particular — are seen as particularly important for drivers without access to off-street parking and who cannot install domestic “wallbox” charging points at their homes.
As a result, the government’s investment has been welcomed by various organisations, including charging industry body Charge UK.
“ChargeUK members are supporting economic growth by rolling out charging infrastructure at an incredible pace,” said the organisation’s CEO, Vicky Read. “A new public charge point goes into the ground every 25 minutes on average. We welcome the chancellor recognising the important role of our sector in driving growth in her speech.”
However, Read also said more needed to be done to achieve the government’s goals for electric vehicle adoption.
“We need to see existing EV sales quotas confirmed, barriers to charge point deployment, such as slow grid connections, addressed, and steps taken to ensure drivers can charge affordably, including equalising VAT on home and public charging,” she said.
But the charging industry is not the only sector that welcomed the news. Car manufacturers are under increasing pressure to sell electric vehicles. Ahead of the 2030 deadline, the government is mandating increasing EV sales each year, building up to the ban on sales of new petrol- and diesel-powered cars. In 2024, for example, the government decreed 22 per cent of all major manufacturers’ new car sales should be made up of electric cars.
However, figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) showed EVs held a market share of 19.6 per cent — just short of the government’s target. And demand will have to increase again this year, with a 28 per cent market share demanded in 2025.
As a result, Renault UK managing director Adam Wood said the increase in charging infrastructure would be key to increasing demand.
“Investment in on-street charging infrastructure is especially welcome,” he said, “both for addressing a critical requirement to give people without a driveway an easy, affordable way to charge an electric car, and for signalling a firm government commitment to making the transition to electric vehicles happen to the timescales it has set with its mandate.”
“The charging infrastructure in the UK has grown significantly in recent years, but for it to be accessible to all it needs ongoing and substantial investment to unlock its potential and to maintain the momentum behind some of the great innovative solutions that have and are being developed to allow kerbside charging across the UK.
“Providing more access to charging points for customers is critical to speeding up the transition to zero-emissions vehicles.”
Meanwhile James Taylor, the managing director of Vauxhall, said his company had been campaigning for roadside charging points for some time, and the new investment was vital to providing charging for all drivers.
“Support for kerbside charging is critical to ensure nobody is left behind on the UK’s electrification journey, with millions of drivers without access to driveways reliant on an effective public charging network,” he said.
“Vauxhall is working closely with leading charge point operators, such as Connected Kerb, through its Electric Streets of Britain initiative, which was introduced to help councils across the UK with the acceleration of public charge point roll out.
“Today’s announcement that the government will provide extra funding for kerbside charge points is a welcome boost to the UK’s EV charging network at a pivotal time.
“We need to ensure that these new on-street chargers, which are key to enabling those without a driveway to charge their EV, get installed in the right towns and streets where they will get used – our Electric Streets campaign sets out precisely to help with that.”
Related articles
- If you were interested in the new investment in kerbside EV charging, take a look at this story about drivers calling on councils to install on-street charging on more than 11,500 UK roads
- Also check out the best and worst places in UK for public electric car chargers
- Number of UK public electric car chargers passes 30,000 with 33% increase in 12 months, but coverage remains patchy
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