Oxfordshire will receive £3.6 million to triple its number of public electric vehicle (EV) chargers after the county’s Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) bid was approved.

Money from the DfT will seed fund a major rollout of infrastructure worth over £10m that will see more than 1,300 public chargers delivered in the county by the end of 2025. The rest of the funding will largely come in the form of investment from the EV chargepoint operators themselves.

Oxfordshire County Council led the application in close collaboration with Oxford City Council and Cherwell, West Oxfordshire, South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse district councils.

The programme aims to create a reliable, easy-to-use, contactless EV charging network spanning the county. This will give more people the opportunity to switch to an EV – regardless of where they live or their parking situation – to improve Oxfordshire’s environment and air quality.

Councillor Pete Sudbury, Deputy Leader of Oxfordshire County Council and Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Environment, said: “This funding will provide a huge boost to Oxfordshire’s growing EV charging network and build on our leadership in this field, removing one of the blocks to EV ownership. One of our top aims is to get reliable, contactless public EV charging into rural and deprived areas, ensuring that nobody will be left behind in the transition to driving electric.”

The programme, known as OXLEVI, will be the largest deployment of public EV charging infrastructure ever seen in Oxfordshire and will treble the amount of public chargers currently available.

The focus will be on standard 7kW chargers that residents without home chargers can use overnight at discounted rates. The new EV chargers network will also provide much needed top-up charging for residents, visitors, commuters and working drivers during the daytime.