Cash-strapped councils across the UK are installing thousands of EV charging points in their car parks to help bring in extra revenue.

Many have taken advantage of the government’s £381 million Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund which supports the rollout of a local public charging network to get the country to Net Zero by 2030.

With experts predicting 60 per cent of all cars on our roads will be EVs by 2030, providing EV charging to bring in extra cash is a no brainer for councils struggling with tighter budgets.

But there are many other ways councils can maximise EV charging revenue including installing solar carports to become their own energy producers.

Lease out your EV charging points

The LEVI fund encourages local authorities to partner with companies to get full funding for EV charging on council-owned land and spread the risk of lower than expected revenue.

The partnership sees private companies otherwise known as Charge Point Operators (CPOs) taking on some of the upfront costs of EV charging infrastructure as well as the cost of operations and maintenance in a leasing arrangement.

The councils then take a percentage of revenue raised by the charging points.
An alternative model sees councils pay for all the upfront costs but a CPO operating and maintaining the charging points with councils taking a percentage of revenue once the car park becomes profitable.

In addition, a CPO can own all the infrastructure with councils paying a fee for the operation and maintenance costs.

Charge more at peak times and foster loyalty

Councils can leverage the extra time that customers dwell in shopping and leisure centres by providing EV charging in these areas.

EV owners spend an average of 15 minutes waiting for their vehicles to charge, an ideal advertising opportunity for nearby local businesses, hoping to attract more shoppers and leisure users.

Charging units are ideal for displaying digital advertising with councils selling advertising space to local or national businesses and ad revenue used to subsidise any charging costs or as profit.

Cross-promotion and special offers

Councils can also leverage charging stations by partnering with local businesses, retail, leisure centres and hotels to provide special discounts to EV owners.

This can increase revenue for everyone including the council by attracting more EV customers.

Become your own energy producer with solar carports

Solar carports are becoming increasingly widespread in council carparks across the UK and it’s easy to see why.

Not only do they enable councils to produce clean energy, cut their carbon footprints and slash record-high energy bills but they also provide EV charging points and batteries to store energy, helping councils to manage energy.

Councils can also sellenergy onto the National Grid at times of high demand and increase their revenue.

How much could you save?

If you’d like to learn more about solar carports, Solspan has come up with an easy-to-use Solar Savings Calculator to show how much money you could be saving on energy bills every year.

Contact us for more information and for a chat with our experts who have many years’ experience of working across the public and private sectors.