Government Increases Electric Car Charging Grants for Schools

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• Government Increases Electric Car Charging Grants for Schools

06 February 2024

The Department for Transport has announced that state schools will be able to apply for a grant to cover 75 per cent of the cost of buying and installing EV charging points. 

State-funded schools, colleges, nurseries and academies will now have the ability to claim for up to £2,500 per socket, up from the previous £350. 

The scheme is available to schools in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland that already have designated off-street parking facilities. For those managing school facilities, a site survey must be completed before application, to confirm that the site can support EV charging .

The government aims to have installed 300,000 charge points by 2030. The latest figures demonstrate that there are currently over 50,000 public charge points in the UK.

Net-Zero for Schools

2020-21 figures estimate that the school estate in the UK makes up 16.1 per cent of all built assets in the government’s portfolio. Typically situated in residential areas, EV charge points may help schools generate extra revenue by making them available to the public.

Minister for the School System and Student Finance at the Department for Education, Baroness Barran, said: “This is an exciting opportunity for schools across the UK to become part of an ongoing move towards a greener public sector. Schools engaging with this grant will be supporting the development of green infrastructure, helping to improve their local environments.

“Developing a greener education estate is a key element of our sustainability and climate change strategy. The expansion of this grant supports our ambition to improve the sustainability of our schools in the ongoing move towards net-zero.”

Picture: a close-up photograph of an electric vehicle being charged. Image Credit: Unsplash

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 06 February 2024

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