BT Group swaps street cabinets to electric charging points

The 英国电信集团 , long-standing partner of our Great Big Green Week campaign, has launched a pilot project that will help people across the UK access charging facilities for electric vehicles (EVs).

Earlier this year, BT Group announced plans to power up its first EV charging unit in East Lothian, Scotland, built from a street cabinet traditionally used to store broadband and phone cabling.

The announcement marks the first step in the rollout of new trials, exploring the potential to upgrade up to 60,000 cabinets across the UK. This will support people who want to swap their petrol-powered cars for electric vehicles, ultimately helping to decarbonise the transport system in the UK.

The pilot projects will explore how they could be scaled to address the lack of chargers on UK roads. With new BT Group research showing that more than a third (38%) of people would have an EV already if charging were less of an issue, and with only 53,000 public EV charge points currently on UK roads, the pilot marks an important step in the journey to net zero.

The project works by retrofitting the cabinets with a device that enables renewable energy to be shared to a charge point alongside the existing broadband service with no need to create a new power connection. EV charging can be deployed to cabinets that are in-use for current copper broadband services, or in those due for retirement, depending on the space and power available.?

We’re profiling stories like these as part of the Great Big Green Week, taking place between 8th and 16th June 2024.

This year’s Great Big Green Week will celebrate the positive swaps that people, communities and organisations are making every day to help create a better tomorrow.?Let’s #SwapTogether, for good.

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