Telecom boxes are becoming EV charging stations in Britain

Bangkok Post Group

Britain's green communication cabinets, a common sight on local streets, are going greener in a new trial to transition them into electric vehicle charging points. - REUTERS

Transcript

00:00British telecom boxes are being transformed into electric vehicle charging stations.

00:08The green cabinets are a common sight on British streets.

00:11They store broadband and phone cables for telecom giant BT,

00:16but are becoming redundant as the company rolls out fibre.

00:20So, the idea behind a new pilot project is to make the green boxes a little greener.

00:26And this seemed like a really good opportunity to reuse the points of power,

00:29reuse some existing street furniture and help contribute towards that drive towards net zero.

00:36Craig Wright is an EV driver who lives in Haddington, Scotland.

00:40He knows all too well the worry that can come from searching for a place to charge.

00:45I think that when you're planning a journey, especially a long distance journey,

00:50it helps to have provision. So, that's the main thing driving an EV is kind of

00:54range anxiety and not knowing if you're going to get a charge to get back home, that sort of thing.

00:59And he's not alone. BT says its research shows some British drivers

01:04don't want to go electric because of a shortage of charging stations.

01:08Nearly 40 percent said they'd have an EV already if charging were less of an issue.

01:14There were nearly 54,000 charge points across the UK at the end of last year,

01:19according to figures quoted by BT from ZapMap.

01:23But the government wants to boost that number to 300,000 by the 2030s.

01:29BT's startup incubation hub, called Etcetera, is running the cabinet trial.

01:34This is its first charge point, and residents can use it for free until the end of May.

01:40Information about pricing, availability and charging speeds is available on an app.

01:45Well, we know we've got to expand EV charging.

01:48Fiona Hyslop is Scotland's cabinet secretary for transport.

01:52She says it will help EV drivers outside of cities.

01:56We know that we can get EV chargers in town centres. Actually, on the periphery of towns,

02:02that can be the best place that people can go to, so they don't have to drive somewhere else

02:06to charge their car. BT is planning to expand the project into

02:10the English county of West Yorkshire next. It's eyeing 600 trial sites across the UK.

02:18For more stories, visit nyseagrant.org.

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