Devon County Council’s (DCC) Cabinet has given the greenlight for the delivery of up to 2,000 new Electric Vehicle (EV) chargers across Devon. 

Cabinet approval of the scheme on Wednesday follows DCC being awarded more than £7m of Government funding to deliver thousands of new publicly accessible EV charging points up to 2030. 

The award, from the Department for Transport’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund, was one of the largest of its kind in the country. 

The funding announcement followed DCC’s adoption of the Devon Electric Vehicle Charging Strategy last year which highlights that a key barrier to the uptake of EVs in Devon is the availability of suitable charging infrastructure. 

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

Two schemes led by DCC have already delivered over 300 charging point sockets across Devon and Torbay.  

These have been provided through both external funding and private sector investment in partnership with East Devon, Exeter, Mid Devon, North Devon, Teignbridge, Torbay and West Devon Councils. 

The council says the scheme is good news for residents who want to be able to charge vehicles closer to their properties the scheme include trials of both charge points built into streetlighting columns and cable channels in the footway to avoid cables trailing across pavements. 

Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council’s cabinet member for Highway Management, said: “With the sale of EV’s increasing it is important that charging infrastructure is readily available to further support the shift towards decarbonising on-road transportation.  

“An increasing number of car parks in Devon now have EV charge points in place, but for those in rural areas or without a front drive, access to charging points remains a barrier. 

“I know there are concerns cables could trail across pavements and I'm pleased to say that we are looking at ways to stop this from happening and trials placing charge points into streetlighting columns and into cable channels will soon be carried out and have received correspondence about this from a number of residents.  

“This project will ramp up charging point availability across Devon to make it easier and more convenient for those with and EV or considering buying one.”  

Councillor Andrea Davis, Devon County Council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for Climate Change, Environment and Transport, said: “On road transportation makes up more than a quarter of Devon’s carbon emissions and the decarbonisation of transport is a crucial part of our response to the climate emergency. 

“The size of the award from Government recognised the unique challenges of delivering EV infrastructure in rural Devon.  

“This scheme will help ensure that EV infrastructure is accessible in smaller communities and outside people’s homes.”