CORNWALL’S electric vehicle (EV) charging network will be given a boost with up to 2,000 charge points to be installed from next year.

Cornwall Council successfully bid for £5.5-million from the Department for Transport’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund to bring charge points to more areas.

Providing lower power and cheaper, residential charging at slower speeds, charge points will initially be installed in council car parks, with on-street charging set to appear as the project progresses.

As part of this work, residents, groups and town and parish councils are being asked for their views on where EV charge points are most needed.

Cllr Dan Rogerson, Cornwall Council cabinet member for transport, said: “With less than five years to go until the ban on new diesel and petrol engines comes into effect, we want to make sure the infrastructure is in place to meet the needs of our residents.

“This funding means we can install chargers in our rural communities where the private sector is unlikely to invest. It also means that, for the first time, we can consider on-street charging. To make the most difference however, we need to hear from communities about where to install them.”

Cornwall currently ranks in the top 20 per cent of local authority regions for the number of public EV charge points. In 2023, Cornwall Council installed 226 new charging points through the Drive EV2 project. Funded by the European Regional Development Fund and the Council’s Carbon Neutral Fund, the charging points were installed in Cornwall Council car parks in 42 locations.

A spokesperson for the RAC said: “We estimate there are around 1.4-million zero-emission Battery Electric Vehicles (cars) on the UK's roads.”

On top of this, the organisation also estimated that there are around 777,000 plug-in hybrids in use across the country.

The spokesperson continued: “The number of places to charge an electric car is growing rapidly - and of course people lucky enough to have off-street parking (be this at home or at a workplace) can also have private charge points fitted to give them more places to top up.

“You may think the buzz around EVs is a recent phenomenon. In fact, electric cars were driving silently around our streets as far back as 1837. However, in these early days, non-rechargeable batteries hampered their practicality.

“Rechargeable batteries arrived around 1881, and it was thought the UK would take up EVs soon afterwards, when the London Electrical Cab Company unveiled the Bersey taxi. Sadly, it was expensive to run and unreliable, damaging its reputation and torpedoing any chance of success.

“Development of EVs continued over the following decades, but it wasn’t until the launch of the Tesla Model S in 2012 when the world once again began to take EVs seriously.”

Residents and local businesses can find out more about the council’s EV charging network, electric vehicles and test drive a wide range of vehicles at a free event taking place at the Royal Cornwall Showground on Saturday, September 13.