Yorkshire’s National Parks have gone live with 18 new EV charging points to support visitors going electric.

The new EV chargers are funded by BMW UK as part of its Recharge in Nature partnership with National Parks UK

Twelve of the new EV charge-points have been installed in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, including the Malham National Park Visitor Centre; the Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes; and Grassington National Park Visitor Centre.

Meanwhile in the North York Moors National Park, six chargers can be found at Sutton Bank National Park Centre, with an additional six chargers set to be installed at Danby Lodge National Park Centre.

The new chargers are funded by BMW UK, partner to this year’s Great British Fleet Event, as part of its Recharge in Nature partnership with National Parks UK, which will install EV chargers across all 15 of the UK’s National Parks by the end of 2025.

The three-year initiative will support the use of electric cars both for visitors and also for those who live and work in the National Parks – and so help to reduce both emissions and noise pollution in these precious landscapes.

Graham Biggs, corporate communications director at BMW UK, said: “The UK’s EV infrastructure rollout is continuing at pace and we need to see this accelerate to reach at least 300,000 charge-points by 2030. It’s important that the distribution of these chargers is spread right across the UK and we need to ensure that our countryside is brought up to speed with the bigger cities.

“Access to nature for everybody is so important and we’re pleased to be supporting the Recharge in Nature partnership to enable and encourage this through EV infrastructure, bus services and community engagement programmes.”

Alongside the installation of EV chargers throughout all National Parks, the Recharge in Nature partnership is also supporting community impact and nature restoration projects unique to the individual National Parks. This includes funding for the North York Moors National Park to develop outdoor volunteering programmes for families and young adults.