More electric car chargers in South Tyneside

There are more public electric vehicle charging points in South Tyneside than there were two years ago, new figures show.
A electric car charging point.A electric car charging point.
A electric car charging point.

Department for Transport figures show there were 42 publicly provided charging points in South Tyneside on January 1 – up from 28 two years ago.

The figures also show residents in South Tyneside had installed 417 at-home charging points through the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme as of January 1 – a 136% increase over the last two years.

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There have also been 58 charging points installed at workplaces.

The Government is aiming to entirely phase out petrol and diesel-powered cars by 2030 but – with electric vehicles planned to account for all car sales by 2035 – it has faced criticism from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), which says there are not enough charging points.

At the start of the year, there were 28,375 public charging points nationally, up from 16,505 in January 2020.

There are now more than 460,000 battery-electric cars in the UK, more than double the number two years before.

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SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said a lack of charging points is putting people off from switching to zero emission cars.

He said: “The automotive industry is up for the challenge of a zero-emission car and van market but it needs the commensurate commitment of all other stakeholders, especially the charging industry."

The Government is to invest £1.6bn to install more than 6,000 rapid chargers on motorways, and a £450m Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure fund to address the shortfall of local charging points.

By 2030, the Government aims to provide 300,000 public charging points.