UK: Shell to install 50,000 on-street EV chargers by 2025

Move aims to significantly extend charging network for UK drivers who have no off-street parking, with Shell helping meet costs for local authorities.

Shell has announced ambitious plans to have 50,000 on-street electric vehicle charge posts installed across the UK by the end of 2025, through ubitricity. The move is part of a wider effort to bring more EV charging availability to the millions of UK drivers without private parking and help local authorities get their charging networks up-and-running as quickly as possible.

Around 3,600 ubitricity chargers are already in place in the UK, using existing street infrastructure such as lamp posts and bollards. In order to drive take-up to reach the 50,000 figure, Shell will support local authorities with a financing offer to install more ubitricity on-street chargers in towns and cities across the UK at potentially zero cost.

The UK government’s Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) currently meets 75% of the cost of installing on-street chargers through the On-Street Residential Charging Scheme (ORCS). For local authorities looking to install ubitricity charge posts, Shell is prepared to cover the remaining costs, subject to commercial terms.

More than 60% of households in English cities and urban areas do not have off-street parking – this rises to 68% for people living in social housing, according to recent figures.

“It’s vital to speed up the pace of EV charger installation across the UK and this aim and financing offer is designed to help achieve that. Whether at home, at work or on-the-go, we want to give drivers across the UK accessible EV charging options, so that more drivers can switch to electric,” said David Bunch, Shell’s UK Country Chair.

The announcement sits alongside the rapid roll-out of Shell-owned charge points at forecourts, supermarkets, businesses and homes, to provide the UK’s EV drivers with the full range of charging options. Globally, the energy giant wants to grow its electric vehicle network from more than 60,000 charge points today to around 500,000 by 2025.

“Together with industry and local authorities, we can create cleaner, greener local communities – providing EV chargepoints for people without off-street parking across the country,” said Transport Minister Rachel Maclean.

Shell acquired ubitricity in February 2021. The European provider of on-street charging has fast become a market leader in the UK with 3,600 charge points.