BT has scrapped a plan to convert roadside green cabinets into electric car chargers after only managing to install one.
The British telecommunications company had seen an opportunity to use existing electrical connections in cabinets, which normally house telephone and broadband Internet equipment, to quickly install chargers. However, it will now close its only charging point, in East Lothian, Scotland, according to Fast Charge, a charging newsletter.
BT said in 2023 that up to 60,000 cabinets could function as car chargers, out of a total of 90,000. The project could have contributed significantly to the 300,000 public chargers that the UK government aims to install to cope with the growth in the number of electric vehicles on British roads.
The number of public chargers in the UK is growing rapidly every year. Companies installed a record 19,600 in 2024, with the total number up by a third compared to 2023.
However, the growth rate slowed amid delays in government funding and a more difficult financial environment for charge point operators. Companies raising funds for the costly launch of chargers have been hit by higher interest rates as well as investor jitters as electric car sales have stalled.
The BT plan, led by a digital startup unit called Etc., would have solved one of the key problems for charger companies: installing new connections to the electricity grid. In the pilot installation, the cars were not plugged directly into the cabinet, but rather to a separate pole a few meters away.
BT has been a strong supporter of the shift towards electric cars. In November, Clive Selley, chief executive of BT’s Openreach broadband subsidiary, called on the government to comply with rules, called the zero-emission vehicle mandate, which push carmakers to sell more electric vehicles each year. .
A BT Group spokesperson said the company had been able to “test and explore a lot about the challenges many EV drivers face on the road with charging and where BT Group can add more value to the UK EV ecosystem”.
Instead, the company would focus on providing “wifi connectivity” from cabinets, BT said.