Electric Vehicle Infrastructure
The Midlands EV Infrastructure Consortium
What is the Midlands EV Infrastructure Consortium?
The Midland Electric Vehicle Consortiums are made up of 14 Local Transport Authorities across the Midlands region.
Each consortium is lead by a principal authority to support one procurement approach, to leverage the buying power of the local authorities, as well as levelling up rural areas to accelerate the uptake of Electric Vehicles (EVs).
In 2022, Five Midlands-based Local Authorities joined forces to win just under £1 million of UK Government Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) pilot funding to install over 300 electric vehicle (EV) charge points across the Midlands. The initial partnership between Lincolnshire County Council, Herefordshire Council, Leicestershire County Council, Rutland County Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council - alongside Sub-National Transport Body Midlands Connect - was named the “Midlands EV Infrastructure Consortium”.
In 2023, the consortium expanded, bringing an additional 9 Local Transport Authorities together alongside the original LEVI pilot consortium partners for another successful bid in securing stage 1 of the Government’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) scheme, equating to £40.3 million.
What are the aims of the consortiums?
As the region’s strategic body, Midlands Connect explored how the region could come together to deliver the scale of electric vehicle charging points to support the accelerated growth of electric vehicles in the region.
Estimates have shown that by 2030, there are expected to be 2 million electric vehicles on the Midlands’ roads. Through our strategic business case work, we identified the importance of local authorities in supporting this journey, noting the challenges ofrural areas to meet this delivery, alongside the public funding needed to support areas where the chargepoint industry is unable to fund.
Midlands Connect worked with all local transport authority partners across the region to identify the benefits of this approach, exploring how they could work together to leverage the economic benefits of the infrastructure whilst also levelling up the region, tackling carbon emissions and improving air quality.
What is it doing?
The consortiums are working together to ensure that the right charge point device is in the right location, to meet future EV need for their local authority area.
Over the last few months, Local Transport Authorities have been identifying key areas for charge points based on a number of factors, including but not limited to:
- Level of on-street parking, population scores and local EV survey data
- Nearby chargepoints and regional transport routes
- Level of residential demand through car ownership, public transport and other transport factors
- Level of current and forecasted EV demand, including commercial demand
- Nearby energy capacity and potential connection costs
- Local challenges – equity (levels of deprivation and rurality), flood risk, pathway and roadway sizes and much more
Learn more about what the consortium has done over the last 12 months, at our EV conference held in 2024 - Midlands Connect - Midlands Connect EV Conference
Consortium members
- Derby City Council
- Derbyshire County Council
- Herefordshire Council
- Leicestershire County Council
- Lincolnshire County Council
- Nottingham City Council
- Nottinghamshire County Council
- Rutland County Council District Council
- Shropshire Council
- Staffordshire County Council
- Stoke-on-Trent City Council
- Telford and Wrekin Council
- Warwickshire County Council
- Worcestershire County Council
Midlands EV Tool
Midlands Local Authorities have access to our EV infrastructure tool to help with strategic planning across the region. This is accessible to officers through our Centres of Excellence programme. To get in touch, email EVC@midlandsconnect.uk
Supercharging the Midlands
In September 2021, we issued a landmark report on the future of EVs in the Midlands. Our research showed that we need to drastically accelerate the roll-out of EV charge points. EV use in the Midlands is projected to increase by over 3000% by the end of 2030 and we need to cater for vehicle users by speeding up the installation of public EV chargers.