Public electric vehicle charging points must double by 2025 in Cheshire East

The number of public electric vehicle charging points in Cheshire East will need to double by 2025, writes Belinda Ryan.

Government figures show there are currently just 153 publicly available charge points in the borough.

Forecasts indicate 300 will be needed by 2025 and about 1,300 by 2030 to serve the growing number of electric vehicles.

The council is poised to bid for cash from the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund if councillors agree at next week’s meeting of the highways and transport committee.

A report to that meeting states: “Large-scale investment is needed to expand and improve the public charge point network in Cheshire East.

“The council needs to position itself to secure funding from external sources to successfully implement this strategy fully.”

In 2022, Cheshire East was awarded £155,000 from the On-street Residential Charge point Scheme (ORCS).

Highways officers are currently engaging with government’s new Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) fund.

The report states: “A key requirement of these funding schemes is for local authorities to secure substantial match funding from the private sector.

“The council will need to engage with charge point operators to build a partnership to deliver improvements on the local charge point network.”

Figures from the Department for Transport and National Charge Point Registry show that nearly 5,300 plug-in vehicles – incorporating battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids – were registered in Cheshire East in the second quarter of 2022.

The report states: “As we move towards the phase-out of new internal combustion engine cars and vans from 2030, the growth in electric vehicle numbers is expected to accelerate.

“By 2030 there is forecast to be around 96,000 plug-in vehicles registered in Cheshire East, a significant increase on current numbers.

“This means the council needs to plan for increasing demands and support the installation of new charge points.”

The meeting takes place at Macclesfield Town Hall at 10am on Thursday, July 20.

(pic by Ludovic Hirlimann under creative commons licence)