Connecting with the electric car

kerbside EV chargepoint network online. Factors that Etc. will study include:

The transition from petrol and diesel vehicles to electric models will require a substantial increase in the provision of public chargepoints. The provision of charging infrastructure at the kerbside is a challenge that has seen the emergence of initiatives such as adding chargepoints to lamp columns. There are now proposals to make use of other pieces of existing street furniture with mains power supplies as locations for charging points.

Telecommunications company BT is to pilot repurposing redundant street cabinets as EV charging units. The cabinets are currently used for providing copper-based broadband and phone services, and will be decommissioned as the nationwide upgrade of the telecom network to full fibre progresses.

BT’s digital incubation team, known as Etc., will run the pilots. The two-year trial will focus on both technical and commercial aspects of converting street cabinets. The pilots will provide insight into the viability to scale EV charging to more locations across its estate. Etc. estimates that up to 60,000 of BT Group’s 90,000 cabinets could be suitable for upgrades to EV charging points

The study team will scope a range of different technical, commercial and operational considerations with bringing a potential

• Technical: cabinet location, power availability, customer accessibility, digital customer experience and engineering considerations

• Civil planning: location, local council engagement and physical accessibility

• Commercial: public funding options, private investment, partnership, and wider financial modelling

• Operational: a dedicated BT Group venture or in partnership with others.

The Etc. project involves collaboration across the BT Group to assess the potential in this sector and test the technology. The first phase of the EV charging pilots, open to Openreach and BT Group colleagues, will kick off in Northern Ireland in Autumn 2023. The programme will be expanded to the public as more locations are added across the UK later in the year.

The UK government has announced an ambition to grow the number of UK chargepoints from around 45,000 today to 300,000 by 2030, committing £1.6bn in public funding to the effort. Forecasts for the public EV charging sector are evolving rapidly as consumer habits shift ahead even of the 2030 deadline for the end of internal combustion engine vehicle sales, but estimates generally see it climbing to be worth multiple billions of pounds by the early 2030s.

“With the ban on sales of internal combustion engine vehicles coming in 2030, and with only around 45,000 public chargepoints today, the UK needs a massive upgrade to meet the needs of the EV revolution,” says Tom Guy, managing director, Etc. at BT Group. “We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to connect for good in a whole new way by innovating around our cabinet infrastructure. The pilots are critical for the team to work through the assessment and establish effective technical, commercial and operational routes to market over the next two years.”

Ben Nelmes, chief executive of business analyst New Automotive, sees merit in the concept of repurposing street cabinets. He said: “The need for more EV charging represents an exciting business opportunity, so it is great to see BT Group announcing plans that could play a key role in growing the number of chargepoints and helping enable more people to make the switch to an electric car.”

The BT project has also been welcomed by the Climate Group, an international non-profit organisation with a mission to drive climate action. Helen Clarkson, chief executive at Climate Group, said: “We’re seeing more and more ambitious commitments from corporates to grow their EV fleets in the coming years. Programmes like BT Group’s are an incentive for other businesses and drivers to go electric. But we need the UK government to play its part – wider availability of chargepoints right across the country, not just in London, will help build confidence that switching to an EV is the right option.”