First on-street electric chargers for the borough
The first public electric vehicle charge points have been installed as part of a borough-wide strategy to make electric vehicles more accessible.
Units are being rolled out at 46 locations by Dudley Council - in partnership with Black Country Transport and Wenea West Midlands Ltd - offering electric vehicle owners more places to charge their vehicles.
Unlike charge points at supermarkets, in car parks or places of work, the introduction of these charge points specifically supports local people who wish to own an electric vehicle but do not have their own drive, or other access to off-street charging facilities.
The first unit was installed in New England in Halesowen following consultation with residents. Each unit features two vehicle charging points and is ideal for residents who wish to charge their vehicle locally, overnight. Friends and visitors can also make the most of the pay-as-you-charge facilities.
Five more units are up and running on Netherend Lane in Colley Gate, Worcester Street in Stourbridge, John Street, Brierley Hill, Cinder Bank in Netherton and Hagley Road Stourbridge.
More will go live across the borough before the end of the year and residents will be kept informed of other locations with hopes to install around 30 before the end of the financial year.
The £420k* scheme, funded through an Office of Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) grant and contribution by charge point operator Wenea, will help to realise the council’s commitment to the Black Country Ultra-Low Emission Vehicle Strategy, respond to the climate emergency and help to build infrastructure in time for the government ban on sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles in 2035.
Councillor Damian Corfield, cabinet member for highways and environmental services, said:
“As a borough we are committed to reducing carbon emissions and electric vehicles are a great way to do this. I am very pleased to see the first of the new charging points installed in Halesowen, with more to follow. “
Councillor Paul Bradley, cabinet member responsible for climate change, said:
“Electric vehicles are a great way for people to lower their carbon footprint and vehicle emissions, however, not everyone has the space to install their own off-street charger, especially some of our older terraced streets. This new programme helps to counter that.”
The installation programme is part of a larger scheme, which will see up to 315 EV charging points introduced in around 158 locations across the 4 Black County authorities.
The project is led by Black Country Transport on behalf of the four local authorities and is the first phase of a multi million pound programme of works to support the transition to electric vehicles in the region.
A further £7million has been provided to fund the Black Country scheme by WMCA, through the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles funded City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS).
Additional investment will be provided through the £14.5m allocation to the West Midlands from the OZEV Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) fund over the coming financial years.
Residents who live in the immediate vicinity of an installation site will be contacted by the installer and operator, Wenea, as their installation day approaches.
Visit Wenea for more information and download the Wenea app at Download our app - Wenea - UK. Prices can be found on the Wenea app and vary by location and charging speed.
https://wenea.com/uk/point-locator/
To suggest potential future sites for consideration visit https://bctchargepoints.commonplace.is/