How LEVI works in tandem with existing schemes

Tim Scrafton

TO TEST THE DESIGN OF

TO TEST THE DESIGN OF the new LEVI scheme, a £10 million pilot competition is now available, anticipated to fund between three and eight projects. Funding applications by local authorities and consortiums led by them need to be submitted before June 18, 2022.

According to the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV), the LEVI fund is intended to encourage large scale, ambitious and commercially sustainable projects that leverage significant private sector investment.

The LEVI fund is to allocate £450m for innovative urban public charging solutions. Funding a mix of slow, fast, and ultra-rapid charge points, including solar canopies and battery storage.

A further £50m has been allocated to employ and train staff to work on the planning and implementation of the charging infrastructure.

The aims of the LEVI are to

Help enable strategic local provision of public EV infrastructure ahead of need and promote an equitable EV charging experience for those without off-street parking

Leverage additional private sector investment and promote sustainable and innovative business models to enable the delivery of local charge point projects that would not occur in the near-term without public support

Increase consumer confidence in transitioning to EVs across England, ensuring increased uptake across regions. This should be welcome news for all local authorities, fleets and drivers in logistics, taxis, and private hire. Most commercial drivers do not have access to off-street parking. Many fleet operators also have limited depot space and energy supply.

An affordable and accessible urban EV charging network is vital to give commercial drivers the confidence to switch to EVs. In addition to the LEVI grant, there are a number of existing incentives for fleets and drivers. These include:

THE WORKPLACE CHARGE SCHEME (WCS)

To be eligible private parking is required. The WCS allows companies to claim up to £350 per charging socket (maximum of 40), up to a value of £14,000. The scheme is available via a simple online voucher system.

From April 1, 2022, it has been extended to include SMEs, owners of commercially let properties, small accommodation businesses and charities. In total, 32,625 WCS sockets have been installed by businesses since 2017.

ON-STREET RESIDENTIAL CHARGEPOINT SCHEME (ORCS)

The ORCS continues into the 2021-22 financial year with a £20m budget. Like the new LEVI fund, it is designed to help those who were not eligible for the now-finished Electric Vehicle Home charge Scheme (EVHS) grant, which required private parking.

This ruled out more than 30% of homeowners who do not have private parking to apply for EVHS grants funding chargers and installation.

HOW MUCH OF THE LEVI £450M WILL BE USED?

The ORCS and LEVI are fundamental to stimulate demand for EVs by fleets and drivers in the commercial van, taxi and PH sectors.

But according to OZEV, since the ORCS scheme was established in 2017, up to April 21, 2021, it accounted for a paltry total of 681 public chargers. This represents £2,170,133 of grant funding across just 31 councils.

So, over four years, about a tenth of the available funds were applied for by less than 10% of councils. The numbers are rising, though. The total rose to 2,038 chargers, for 75 councils using £6.8m of funds by January 1, 2022.

Nevertheless, local authorities haven’t touched the sides of an available £20m for urban, on-street charging, over a period of nearly five years. The question must be asked – if they can’t spend £20m, what are the chances for the next £450m?

It is now crucial that fleets, private stakeholders, suppliers of vehicles, charging consultants and installers work with local authorities and licensing authorities to put the LEVI fund to good use.

WHAT’S NEEDED?

We need to urgently speed up the deployment of residential on-street charging, supported by urban ultra-rapid (100kW+) charging hubs.

Around 80% of EV charging globally is done at home. Yet it is estimated around 70% of commercial drivers do not have private parking. So, ramping up on-street residential charging infrastructure is vital for these drivers, and it will help level up the inequality of EV access for more people and businesses.

This in essence is what the ORCS and LEVI funding is there to achieve. But its success depends on how, or indeed if, it is put into practice. There is clearly a lack of motivation by many local authorities in applying for charging infrastructure grants. This is at odds with many introducing and expanding clean air zones (CAZs).

It ought to be mandatory for local authorities that implement CAZs to apply for public ORCS and LEVI funds, to improve their on-street, and ultra-rapid hub infrastructure for zero emission vehicles.

This is a policy where the welcome introduction of extra funding will only succeed if public and private sectors work together to make it happen.

RAPID ISN’T FAST ENOUGH

An urgent review of existing local authority public contracts being deployed is needed. We are still seeing too many 50kW ‘rapid’ chargers being installed by councils in ones and twos. These are already stranded assets.

In effect, councils that are installing 50kW chargers are applying a backwards-compatibility strategy. Technically, they represent where we were nine years ago. Most new EVs can charge far faster than 50kW, and the ability to charge at 100kW, 200kW or right up to 350kW is becoming the new normal, as batteries become denser, larger, and capable of faster charging.

All rapid charger deployment is costly whether fit for purpose or not. So, it must be done right, particularly when using taxpayers’ money.

What is the point in still rolling out ‘rapid’ 50kW chargers with an avalanche of new EVs capable of ultra-rapid charging? This is the equivalent of lowering broadband speeds when faced with more online demand.

While ultra-rapid urban hubs are a necessity for commercial EVs covering high mileages, they are secondary to charging overnight at home.

Ultra-rapid hubs need to be easily accessible, reservable and provide as fast a charge as possible, to minimise dwell-time and free up the infrastructure for the next user.

Considering the convenience and huge cost benefit to charge at home using low-peak energy, on-street charging must be a priority. This also reduces the demand for high-cost DC hubs as well as the demand on the grid for rapid power at peak times.

The supporting infrastructure must be scalable to keep up with both the demand and the technical capabilities of the EVs. We must take a forward-thinking approach. With the transition to EVs surpassing even the most optimistic predictions, and only showing signs of increasing, public charging has to match this new demand.

DEPLOYING A TWO-SPEED ARCHITECTURE

As road transport is one of the biggest sources of CO 2 emissions, EVs have a vital role to play for the environment. Public transport can further ease congestion and lower pollution in our cities. Electric taxis and PHVs need to be part of a coordinated plan to decarbonise transport and help our cities reduce emissions.