Birmingham City Council has teamed up with Ubitricity to deploy hundreds of on-street chargers across residential areas of the city.

L-R: Councillor Majid Mahmood of Birmingham City Council with Ubitricity UK MD Stuart Wilson

Under the partnership, the council is carrying out a pilot deployment of 560 lamppost EV charge points in areas where access to private off-street parking is limited or unavailable.

Deployed using Office of Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) funding, the first 300 of these charge points have already been installed, and the remaining 260 will be installed before the end of spring 2025.

The project, part of Birmingham’s wider Electric Vehicle Charging Strategy, is being delivered in response to data showing that most electric cars are kept at homes without access to a private driveway.

Not having access to overnight charging ‘on your doorstep’ can act as a deterrent to EV ownership.

This partnership is expected to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles by providing an accessible, convenient charging solution for those who rely on on-street parking.

Ubitricity, a wholly owned subsidiary of Shell and the UK’s largest EV charge point operator according to Zapmap figures, will supply, install, own, operate and maintain the new charge points on behalf of Birmingham City Council.

The charge points will be installed in lampposts on 82 streets across the city, with each point taking less than an hour to install. The installation process is designed to minimise disruption and meets the council’s key requirement to avoid ‘street clutter’, while strategically placing charge points based on resident demand and grid connection availability.

Transport accounts for around a third of CO2 emissions in Birmingham. In June 2019, Birmingham City Council declared a climate emergency and set an ambition for the city to become net-zero by 2030 or as soon as possible after that date as a ‘just transition’ allows. Its Class D charging Clean Air Zone went live on 1 June 2021 and levies charges on all vehicles that do not meet the emissions requirements (except motorcycles).

The charge point pilot rollout respects the city’s broader commitment to the Council’s Birmingham Transport Plan 2031, and supports the objectives of the Brum Breathes Clean Air Strategy and the Route to Net Zero initiative.

Councillor Majid Mahmood, cabinet member for environment and transport at Birmingham City Council, said: “While our focus as a council is on delivering the Birmingham Transport Plan and encouraging people to swap private vehicles for public transport, we also want to ensure that, for those who require use of a car, we have the infrastructure in place to facilitate use of low- or zero-emission vehicles.”

Ubitricity UK managing director Stuart Wilson said: “Ubitricity is delighted to be supporting Birmingham City Council as they begin this journey to create one of the largest public EV charging networks outside London, encouraging the transition to electric vehicles, and helping to create a cleaner and healthier, environment for the people of Birmingham.”