BT to revamp first street cabinet as EV charging station

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BT will this month launch its first roadside electric-vehicle charging station, which will be connected to a street cabinet traditionally used for telecoms cables, as the FTSE 100 company seeks to tackle the UK’s charger shortage.

The telecoms group is exploring the potential to upgrade as many as 60,000 cabinets if a pilot is successful, with its start-up and digital incubation arm Etc powering up its first EV charging unit in East Lothian in Scotland as part of a UK-wide trial.

While Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last year delayed a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035, the government previously emphasised the importance of charging infrastructure for meeting net zero goals. In 2022 it set a target of 300,000 public chargers by 2030.

Tom Guy, managing director of Etc at BT Group, told the Financial Times the company was taking near end-of-life assets to use them “for next generation of services with EV”.

He said BT had looked at how its assets could be utilised to provide solutions to customer problems and macro challenges such as in the EV market.

“There’s a big gap between the chargers that we’ve got now and the chargers that we need in the future to really allow us to go fully electric,” Guy added.

There were 53,029 electric vehicle charging points across the UK at the end of November 2023, according to data collected by EV charging app Zapmap.

Research by BT in December found 60 per cent of petrol and diesel drivers surveyed thought the UK’s EV charging infrastructure was inadequate, while 78 per cent said not being able to charge an electric vehicle conveniently was a barrier to purchasing one.

The share of electric cars sold in the UK declined for the first time in 2023, down to 16.5 per cent from 16.6 per cent in 2022, according to figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Despite this, the total number of EVs sold increased 18 per cent to a record 315,000.

Etc plans to install between 500 and 600 EV charging units across the UK over the next 18 months as part of its trial.

Its cabinets will be retrofitted with a device that enables renewable energy to be shared to a charge point. Once the cabinet is no longer needed for broadband, additional EV charge points could be added, the company said.

BT’s networking division Openreach is halfway to its target of rolling out full-fibre broadband to 25mn premises by 2026 as part of a £15bn infrastructure project. It is planning to reach up to 30mn by the end of 2030.

The EV charging units could potentially be utilised for “a whole new category” for BT, said Guy, as the telecoms group looked for opportunities for growth.

His team is also working on other initiatives involving drones, health technology and fintech.

BT’s consumer division EE in October announced it would start selling kitchen appliances this year and also expand its offerings of electronic goods and subscription, gaming and insurance services.