BT is plotting on-street electric car charging points using redundant cabinets.

BT has started a trial to use the green cabinets which become redundant as fibre takes over to provide on-street charging.

Convincing drivers to go electric is proving to be a mammoth task despite the government doing all it can to make us all move in to EVs, with upfront cost, unreliable range and charging issues high on the list of negatives.

Charging issues are not one issue but many, including chargers not working, the high cost of rapid charging and the simple fact that many homes in the UK don’t have their own off-street parking.

To try and address the on-street charging for EV owners who can’t fit a wall box, BT, through their ‘Etc.’ new goodies arm, thinks they may be able to use the ubiquitous green cabinets countrywide which are becoming redundant as fibre is rolled out and copper cabling made redundant, and instead use them to power kerbside chargers.

The project – which started today in East Lothian, Scotland, with more project locations planned – aims to establish if some 60,000 green cabinets nationwide can practically be used to power kerbside chargers without the need for new grid connections.

Tom Guy, Managing Director, Etc. at BT Group said:

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. 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.”

This is a key step in our mission to build products and services right now that work for the future, with positive transformation at the heart.

No wordd on what the charging rate will be for these new kerbside EV chargers, but you can bet it’ll be slow.