Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles.
One app.

Start reading

Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles. One news app.

Start reading

Manchester Evening News

National

Chris Slater

You'll soon be able to charge your electric vehicle whilst out shopping in two Greater Manchester boroughs

Be electric vehicle Greater Manchester Stockport Bury Council EV Bury Hazel Grove NCP

Dozens of new charging points for electric vehicles are to be installed in two Greater Manchester boroughs as part of town hall deals worth £25 million.

The councils in Stockport and Bury both today announced they had entered agreements with Be.EV – who have the largest electric vehicle charging network in the North West.

It will see the company paying for the installation and maintenance of 80 chargers across the two areas. A total of 54 of these, which can each charge two vehicles allowing over 100 vehicles to be charged at once, will be situated at 20 different locations in Stockport.

A full list of these sites has been issued and is available at the bottom of this article. The council there says it will cost £8 million to install the new chargers with operational costs of £7 million over the next 10 years with Be.EV footing the bill.

The council will retain ownership of the sites but the chargers will be installed and managed by Be.EV, who will pay ground rent with the town hall also eventually earn a share of the revenue from them.

(Right) Councillor Mark Hunter leader of Stockport council and (left) Asif Ghafoor from Be.EV (Mark Waugh Manchester Press Photography Ltd)

In a separate deal worth upwards of £9 million, a total of 30 new chargers are to be installed in Bury, which are also expected to be operational by the end of the year. A full list of the locations there has not yet been issued.

Most of the chargers will be rapid or ultra-rapid models, which can charge a typical electric car to 80 percent in 20 minutes to an hour, compared to four to six hours on a 7kW fast charger.

Bosses say they will be 'primarily in convenient and easily accessible destination areas such as town centre car parks' and will 'make it possible for many more electric vehicle owners to charge their cars while shopping, eating out or simply stopping to give their car battery a quick top-up.'

Anyone will be able to use them, though Be.EV members will receive a discounted rate. Be.EV CEO Asif Ghafoor said: "Stockport and Bury Councils are great examples of progressive local authorities – helping to accelerate the UK’s EV transition.

“They are playing a vital role in supporting the early uptake of EVs in their boroughs by scaling the charging network to make electric cars accessible for all.

“The new deals will help us further expand our reliable network of EV chargers in the North West and we want other councils to sit up and take notice of this gold standard development or they will be left behind."

Coun Mark Roberts, Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Environment at Stockport Council said: “I am so pleased that this exciting partnership will be delivering for residents really soon. This work helps us as a council to future-proof our borough and the needs of our local people.

“Installing more electric vehicle chargers is a key element for the council with regards to its commitment to taking action on climate change as we aim for Stockport to be carbon neutral by 2038.

"Not only that, EV ownership is growing in Stockport and Greater Manchester and this is really great news that we are installing, in partnership with Be.EV, more chargers across the borough in a range of different locations that will benefit our residents.”

Councillor Alan Quinn, cabinet member for the environment, climate change and operations at Bury Council said: “The council is committed to achieve carbon neutrality by 2038. Transport emissions make up a significant amount of our greenhouse gas emissions, therefore we need to make the transition to cleaner transport.

“Electric vehicles can form part of this new picture. But, to help residents who want to make this switch, we need to increase the charging infrastructure so they feel confident they can recharge their vehicles easily."