Devon and Torbay councils plan nearly 3,000 public EV charging points with £30 million investment

Devon County Council and Torbay Council have selected Believ, char.gy and Wenea to deliver almost 3,000 publicly accessible charging sockets across communities, residential streets and public car parks. The rollout is backed by an £8 million grant from the Department for Transport's Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund, with the three charging providers contributing the remaining investment to bring the total to around £30 million. The expansion follows the adoption of EV strategies by both councils identifying the need for thousands of additional public charging sockets to be operational by 2030.

Why it matters: This multi-operator framework demonstrates how local authorities are using LEVI funding to leverage private capital at scale, with the £8 million public grant unlocking £22 million in operator investment. The project offers a procurement model for other councils seeking to deploy mixed charging solutions, combining lamp column units, on street residential chargers and car park rapids across seven district and borough councils.