BT Group to turn 60,000 green cabinets into EV charging points
EV charging is about to get a significant boost in the UK after BT Group confirmed thousands of its green street cabinets will be turned into charging points.
The government wants to power its green credentials by increasing the number of charging points to 300,000 by the end of the decade. There are currently around 53,000.
BT has already started a pilot for the green cabinet transformation; last week, the first EV charging unit was commissioned in East Lothian, Scotland.
As the switch to faster fibre continues, older green cabinets are no longer as critical to the UK’s phone and broadband infrastructure.
Over the next few years, around 60,000 of the cabinets will be converted by BT to support electric vehicles.
It follows research published by BT that found 38% of car owners would have already switched to EVs if they didn’t have to worry about charging issues.
Six in ten also believe the current infrastructure is “inadequate.”
BT Group Managing Director Tom Guy says bringing EV charging “kerbside” will address the frustrations.
He noted: “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.”
Engineers will be able to use existing technology in the cabinets to “retrofit” them for renewable energy, which will speed up the process.
Many of these boxes have already been decommissioned, but BT says those still being used for broadband services can also be upgraded.