Trafford Council has connected the first tranche of a planned new 100 new electric vehicle (EV) charging bays.

The new charging bays have been delivered in partnership with infrastructure provider Be.EV, where up to 100 charging bays will be delivered by 2023.

The sites have been leased to Be.EV which is responsible for the build and maintenance of the network.

Chris Morris, director of transport, highways and environment at Trafford Borough Council, said: “The aim of this roll-out is to create dependable, fair access to public EV charging across the borough. We want to build the infrastructure that encourages everybody to go electric – even if they can’t charge at home.

“The team at Be.EV use street-level data to really drill into neighbourhoods and find the locations that make the biggest difference locally. Building bigger hubs that ensure there’s always a free space is part of that strategy.”

The new charging bays are located at Flixton Road car park in Urmston.

Asif Ghafoor, chief executive officer (CEO) at Be.EV, said: “As significant landowners and as representatives of all their residents, councils, and cities play an important role in ensuring a fast and fair delivery of green infrastructure.

“But, as Trafford Council has shown, they don’t have to do it all. We are delighted to have supported their team with our planning and data expertise and – crucially – with significant capital investment.

“The Trafford team have been forward-thinking in their approach and together, I believe, we’re showing what’s possible. We need hundreds of thousands of public charge-points by 2030.

“If, like Trafford, all 300+ local authorities rolled out 100 bays in the next two years, that order of magnitude no longer looks out of reach.”

Fleet operators and company car drivers could save around £600 per year on charging costs by using smart public charging, a trial has shown.

However, the average cost of using a public charge point has risen 19% in the last quarter, according to new data published by Mina.

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