UK electric vehicle charging point expansion plans paused — because coronavirus

Electric vehicle charging point installations in the UK are being put on hold in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

As industry magazine Electrive reports, numerous EV charging providers are no longer installing “non-essential” public EV charge points and private EV connectors.

[Read: Yes, electric cars will create a waste problem — but only if we do nothing about it]

Managing director of Ubricity — the company that’s converting London’s street lamp to EV charge points — told Current± last week that it was pausing any further installations. However, the company will continue to maintain its infrastructure and complete any installations already underway.

Another UK charging network provider, Pod Point, announced last week that it would be temporarily pausing all of its “non-essential” installations.

However, it is making a few exceptions in order to support individuals important to tackling the impacts of the coronavirus.

Pod Point will continue home charger installations for key workers, and those that rely on EVs and have no other vehicles. It will also continue commercial installations at locations where chargers are used and relied on by key workers.

This year was shaping up to be quite a pivotal year for EV charging infrastructure in the UK, but in light of the coronavirus outbreak, it seems that might not pan out.

Last week, Ubricity and Siemens announced that it had just completed the UK’s first entire street of lamp post to EV charge point conversions.

This summer, the UK is set to get its first electric vehicle-only motorway service station.

According to UK charge network monitor, ZapMap, there are 11,287 EV charging locations in the UK at the time of writing. More than 450 new devices were added to the network in the last 30 days.