Brighton and Hove City Council is close to concluding a £130 million deal to try to drive the switch to electric cars with a huge boost to the number of charging points.
The deal – backed with a government grant and private investment – looks like being Britain’s biggest electric vehicle (EV) on-street charging project to date.
One insider said that the scheme would not be funded from council tax – and it should even bring some income to the area and to the council.
It is aimed at making EV charging available to people without driveways from Whitehawk to Moulsecoomb to Mile Oak.
Labour councillor Trevor Muten, the council’s cabinet member for transport and parking, said: “Come to Brighton and recharge your batteries.”
The news today emerged as Chargepoint operator char.gy said that it would fit more than 6,000 kerbside chargers for the council after securing a £130 million contract.
The council said that the deal was still “subject to contract” – and that if all went well, the contract should be finalised later this month or early next month. A formal announcement would follow.
Three months ago, the council said that it had won a £2.8 million government grant which would allow 500 EV charging points to be installed every year for the next three years.
But it has also taken advantage of growing competition in the sector to boost the number of charging points that will be fitted.
Chargepoint should recoup its investment by charging drivers although the council said that the level of competition for the contract had helped to keep down the amount that drivers will pay.
The cost of charging is likely to be a third cheaper than current prices, helped by the cale of the scheme. The operator can buy electricity more cheaply than individuals.
Councillor Muten said: “While still subject to contracts being signed, we’re very excited for the future of electric vehicle charging in Brighton and Hove and hope to reveal more details about an ambitious and significant expansion soon.
“As well as new, accessible charge points, this will also include flexible and day/night tariffs.
“The city already has one of the best EV charging infrastructures in the country but we must keep up with growing demand and give users confidence they’ll be able to find a charge point.
“Providing clean, affordable and low-carbon transport is essential in helping us to achieve net zero in the city.”
John Lewis, chief executive of char.gy, described the announcement as “a huge moment for the UK and its EV ambitions”.
He said: “This partnership alone will empower thousands of residents to confidently make the switch to electric vehicles, knowing they have easy access to chargers.
“As local authorities across the UK prepare to follow suit, this stands as a powerful first example of how the public and private sectors are coming together to deliver impactful projects that stimulate the demand for EVs and bring the UK meaningfully closer to achieving our sustainability goals.”
The council is one of the first in the country to use the government’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) funding.
The scheme supports councils in England to plan and deliver charging infrastructure for people who don’t have a drive or garage.
The Future of Roads Minister Lilian Greenwood said that making EV charging as easy as possible was “crucial to making the switch to electric a success”.
The Labour government minister said: “Rolling out over 6,000 chargers across Brighton and Hove will make driving an electric vehicle easier and more convenient, especially for those without a driveway.
“It will power growth, cut emissions and improve lives in Brighton and Hove and beyond as we continue to create jobs, attract investment and secure our future.”
Quentin Willson, the founder of EV lobby group FairCharge, said: “Such a huge and very visible deployment of on-street chargers will help create consumer confidence in charging infrastructure.
“It will also show other local authorities that, with ambition and government LEVI funding, it’s possible to offer chargers to the neglected 30 per cent of EV drivers who can’t charge at home.”
The council and char.gy are finalising a 15-year contract for the firm to operate and maintain the charging network.
Last month, the Department for Transport (DfT) said that the number of public EV charging devices installed across the country now exceeded 75,000.
A report published by the National Audit Office, the public spending watchdog, in December found that the spread of public EV chargers was “on track” to meet the 300,000 that the DfT estimates will be the minimum needed by 2030.
There are also more than 680,000 domestic charge points in England alone.
The government has pledged to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2030.
The missing information is the rate at which these new “accessible” chargers will be able to replenish a battery and how much theyt are going to charge for the privilege. As always, the devil will be in the details.
Anything Muten is involved with turns out badly. Yet he’s always ready to pop his head above the parapet sporting his inane gurn. I was also unfortunate to catch him on local radio – he doesn’t instil much confidence.
Trev – we can’t wait for VG3!
Another sh*t thought out pride project. Let’s see how this pans out but I’m going to put a bet that in 10 years we’ll still be waiting
None on Madeira Drive
Just electrify the underused cycle lane on MD.
None Yet.
Give it time Derek.
Too late. The electric vehicle market is already in freefall as everyone realises what a swizz it is. Except maybe for a few companies still receiving large financial inducements to buy or lease them. Because they never pay for themselves. Privately owned, these vehicles are literally virtue signalling toys for those with enough disposable income to show off, generally their second car for a city runabout. They save their proper car for long journeys. They also tend to own their own driveway to plug them in, hence the deserted electric charging points already around the city.
Bought an EV. It’s excellent. 280 mile range. Cheap fuel compared to diesel/petrol. Hardly any maintenance. Easy to refuel, even though no driveway. Cheap to buy too. Never going back to ICE.
About 20% of cars sold in the UK in 2024 were EVs and sales have grown year on year. The cars are getting cheaper, range is increasing, the technology is improving and the charging networks are maturing. I’m not sure EV market is in free fall though I do know a lot of ex EV rental vehicles can be got at a good price.
This is how major new technologies are introduced, it takes a little time, and there can be early market instability, but we’re getting there and electric vehicles are now a very sensible choice for many. It’s hard to argue for a return to the internal combustion engine given what we now know about the impact to health and the environment. Improving the urban charging network will open up the technology to more people and help reach economies of scale needed to make EVs more affordable and sensible for everybody.
Sometimes I can see a deep layer of yellowing dirty smog against cloudless blue sky in distance views above rooftops. Hopefully this move makes EV use so much easier that it revives enthusiasm
New fast chargers that where meant to be installed last June on Marine Parade but have only just been installed now, nine months later. However , all eight chargers that have been installed by Royal Crescent and Marine Square are NOT fast charges but slow ones which will enable you a fast charge as long as another EV isn’t charging on the same dispenser. The reality of the matter is the council are completely clueless when it comes to EV’s and charging needs. Further more people who have the facility to charge at home can pay up to as little as 7p a kilowatt where on one of these chargers it can be as much as 47p a kilowatt. It can cost me around £19 for a 100 miles worth of electricity which really doesn’t feel like ditching petrol or diesel is much of an incentive. I know they need to make a profit and I know that the government slap additional charges on public chargers but to make it fare for people that don’t have the facility to charge at home it at least shoukd be a quarter of what is currently being charged.
Id like to propose we get a new “council transport chief” and fire the old one. This one clearly hasnt been out using transport on our roads recently. They’re in such bad condition.
It’s like they think the world is going to end and just figured whats the point in even maintaining them anymore. Either that, or they’re so wildly incompetent it’s actually insane.
If they say there’s no money. Just take loads of loans out, do the work and bankrupt the council and start again. At the we’ll have new usable infrastructure.
The only way it could get worse would be if there was literal trenches in the middle of the road
Can anyone tell me how electric cars will reduce congestion? Are they less lethal to the people and animals they run over? Do they lead to a more active population? Yes we need electric vehicles but we also need a lot fewer vehicles in total, otherwise most of the problems of traffic remain.
So we have a council wanting to reduce congestion and have a ‘car free’ city yet now want people to come to Brighton to recharge their cars, you couldn’t make it up could you.
Get rid of VG3 and all the cycle and bus lanes if you want this scheme to work, can’t have it all ways.
It’s a con, just like the i360.
So using a government grant we can get 1500 charging points for £2.8 million. That’s £1,800 per charging unit.
Councillor Mutens plan for 6000 charging stations for £130 millions means each charging station will cost £21,600 per charging station.
What an amazing Cabinet member he is. Why can’t all our Cabinet Members be so Business savvy…..Oh wait……that’s another £127 million for the Council tax payers to cough up. Resign you idiot.
The contractor is paying for them, not the Council.
So the contractor is going to pay more than the council does for charging points? Why would they do that? There will be targets and claw backs in the contract that, If not met, will require the Council to pay additional fees. The council will have a potential liability of £127 million. Was this business plan written on the same fag packet the i360 sums were calculated.
Someone with off street parking in Hangleton can charge an EV at 8p KWH off peak and at about 25p KWH peak. They can make their charger available via a partner of Octopus Energy co charger which has a network of chargers which typically charge 39p KWH:
https://co-charger.com/
The current Blink chargers have no off peak tariff and cost about 59p KWH; they have recently changed to 17p connection charge followed by 45p KWH tariff. char.gy currently charges in Croydon 39p KWH off peak and 59p peak.
Before rushing into a new contract, it would be much better if the Council renegotiated with the Blink so that you can charge off peak at close to the cost of residential tariffs.
An even better solution would be to use part of the grant to trial say 100 EV pavement chargers; the Department of Transport has defined the guidelines for these here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cross-pavement-solutions-for-charging-electric-vehicles/cross-pavement-solutions-for-charging-electric-vehicles
The key point is that EV pavement chargers allow residents to shop around for cheap tariffs themselves.
Councils all round the country have been trialling EV pavement chargers. Brighton Council won’t trial EV pavement chargers and the reason is partly commercial; the Council is taking a slice of the charge. Opposition councillors have asked written questions about this issue but there’s no reply.
If you look at char gy on Companies house, this is a micro business with no assets. The £120m mentioned appears to come from a private equity company Zouk Capital. These companies will drive a hard bargain. It would be far better if the Council talked to Octopus Energy who already have a solution to this problem; EDF has offices in Brighton and might have some thoughts.
This Council is refusing to help people connect their electric cars to cheap home electric supplies. The pitch from the Council is that poorer people with no driveway should pay a huge amount more to access electric provided by the Council. This policy is both anti poor and against the environment as it does not allow residents to quicky change to electric cars at affordable fuel prices. Worse still the Council is proposing a 15 year contact with this charging company