The council is looking for a partner to install over 1,000 electric vehicle chargers in residential areas across the city over the next ten years.
The council has received £1.45m of Government funding to help deliver the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) scheme and is looking for a private sector partner to match fund this amount, provide a strong electric vehicle infrastructure network and enable a smooth transition to zero emission vehicles. The procurement process opened today and will run until the middle of February 2025.
Southend-on-Sea currently has no on-street residential only charge points and a mixture of 27 public charging points spread across the city which are operated by four charge point operators. These existing charge points are within Council owned car parks and have been installed as funding has become available over the years. The contract will cover both new residential chargers installed and the existing car park chargers.
The project will include a mixture of technologies including slow lamp column style 5kW chargers, and faster pedestal/bollard style free standing devices ranging from 7-22kW.
Cllr Daniel Cowan, leader of the council, says: “This investment will supercharge our electric vehicle infrastructure across the city and with an 84% increase in plug-in vehicles seen across the city in the last two years, it is much needed.
“All 17 wards have been looked at to identify the approximate number of roads without access to private parking and therefore likely to be in greater demand for public on-street charging provision. Sites for installing EV charging infrastructure have not been decided at this point and will be developed once a partner is appointed.
“The council has spoken with charge point operators as part of the tender development process and have received high levels of interest and positive feedback from the market and I am looking forward to seeing the responses to the tender.”
It is anticipated that the new partnership will be launched in summer 2025 with around 300 chargers installed by 2027 in the areas of greatest need and demand.