A debacle over Newcastle’s “decrepit” electric vehicle (EV) charging points risks damaging the city’s green ambitions, city leaders have been told.
Council chiefs have been urged to take action to improve the number of functioning stations in Newcastle, after years of complaints about public charging points being out of action. Liberal Democrat councillor Greg Stone accused North East authorities of a “serious policy failure” this week, telling colleagues that he had been informed more than a year ago that much of Newcastle’s broken EV technology tech was obsolete and unable to be maintained due to a lack of spare parts or funding.
Earlier this year, the leaders approved a new North East Zero Emission Vehicle Policy which stated that the number of EV chargers in the region would need to increase from just 800 to as many as 28,000 over the coming years to meet a rapidly accelerating demand. But Coun Stone revealed at a Newcastle City Council meeting on Wednesday that a procurement exercise for a 15-year contract to maintain and expand the North East’s charging network was “so onerous and so poorly structured” that it failed to attract even a single bid.
