Working to achieve net zero carbon emissions
from transport in our region
We're supporting Local Authorities to progress their EV Strategies through insight and recommendations
Our first major EV project, in partnership with England's Economic Heartland, delivered two valuable pieces of insight and recommendations through our EV:Ready work and the ELectric Vehicle Insight Study (ELVIS).
EV:Ready
EV:Ready is a dashboard tool by WSP, providing transport officers with an evidence base to plan and prioritise future EV charging infrastructure (EVCI) requirements. Evidence from the dashboard provided the following baseline figures:
- In 2022 there were 1,000 public charge points in the Transport East region, and just under 22,000 private EVs.
- Depending on speed of EV uptake, the region could need up to 54,000 more public charge points by 2050.
The areas most likely to take up an electric vehicle were assessed. Urban areas and places in the south of the region were considered to have a greater likelihood to change. The results demonstrated where the focus for rapid chargers and standard chargers should be geographically.
EV:Ready also highlighted there is a need to consider rural connectivity. 1/3 people in the East live in a rural community and are more likely to rely private vehicle use where public transport options are limited.
If you are a local authority officer working in EV planning, please contact us and we can provide more information on the EV:Ready dashboard, including access.
ELectric Vehicle Insight Study (ELVIS)
Alongside EV:Ready, we also undertook the ELectric Vehicle Insight Study (ELVIS) to understand how local authorities, energy providers and private sector charge-point operators can work more effectively to efficiently deliver EV chargers in the right place.
ELVIS helped us to understand land use opportunities and delivery challenges of EVCI. The report also provided recommendations to tackle these challenges, focusing on the work of STBs, Local Authorities, national government, Charge Point Operators (CPOs) and the private sector.
Key outputs from ELVIS identified the role of local authorities to help identify and pursue low-risk opportunities by funding short-term infrastructure rollouts. Charge-point operators also lack sufficient land to provide the number of charging points required to keep up with EV demand. Other outputs from ELVIS included:
- 80% of Transport East’s local authorities have an EV strategy. Support is being offered to help authorities develop their EV strategies which will support STB’s and Government’s net-zero ambitions.
- Local Authorities should consider creating regional forums and working groups for transport officers. This can lead to effective knowledge and skill sharing and fill in knowledge gaps, helping to accelerate EV infrastructure project delivery.
- A regional approach to procurement, rather than localised, should be considered to speed up the process to procure charging infrastructure.