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The pilot is being run by BT’s startup and digital incubation arm, “Etc”
BT has announced today that it has begun a pilot project to repurpose the old street cabinets, traditionally used for broadband and phone cabling, into electric vehicle (EV) charging stations.
These cabinets are rapidly becoming obsolete as full fibre installations bring the infrastructure directly to the home.
The pilot project was first announced in summer last year, with initial conversions set to take place in Belfast that same autumn.
Now, however, BT says the first unit to be converted will be in East Lothian, Scotland, later this month, followed by additional sites in Belfast and beyond later this year. Ultimately, the pilot will see around 600 additional test points will be installed throughout the UK, to be used commercially as normal by EV drivers. If these deployments prove successful, over 60,000 of BT’s 90,000 cabinet units could be repurposed.
Naturally, the trial must take into consideration a large range of technical, commercial, and operational factors before making these conversions, including cabinet location and accessibility, power availability, and other commercial viability “Our new charging solution is a huge step in bringing EV charging kerbside and exploring how we can address key barriers customers are currently facing,” said Tom Guy, Managing Director at Etc in a press release.
“Working closely with local councils in Scotland and more widely across the UK, we are at a critical stage of our journey in tackling a very real customer problem that sits at the heart of our wider purpose to connect for good.”
In the UK, there are currently only around 53,000 public EV charging stations and, with a ban on sales of internal combustion engine vehicles coming in 2030, Guy is calling for a huge upgrade to meet the needs of the EV revolution. The UK government has set a target to increase the EV infrastructure throughout the country by an additional 300,000 charging points by 2030, which is estimated to cost £1.6 billion.
In related news, BT has confirmed that Allison Kirby will take over as CEO from Philip Jansen from 1st February. Kirkby’s assumption of the role was first announced in July, when she was still in the role as Sweden-based Telia’s CEO.
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