More than 70 electric vehicle charging points will be installed in more than 30 locations across Gwent by the end of March 2020.
The contract for the installation was awarded to Narberth-based company Silverstone Green Energy Ltd.
They will install 73 charge points across 33 locations in Gwent. They will also provide the operation and maintenance of the electric vehicle charge points on behalf of the five Gwent authorities.
In total, the contract will cost the five authorities £603,809 between them.
This will be funded by a grant awarded to the five councils of £459,000 from the UK Government’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles to install the charging points.
The project was also supported financially by the Welsh Government and Natural Resources Wales (NRW) which funded a feasibility study.
The authorities that will benefit from the charge points are Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council – the contracting authority, Caerphilly County Borough Council, Monmouthshire County Council, Newport City Council and Torfaen County Borough Council.
On the Sell2Wales website, where contracts can be tendered and award notices issued, the notice says: “It is a contractual obligation that all chargers must be installed and operational by March 24, 2020 and registered on the National Chargepoint Registry by March 27, 2020 in order to comply with the OLEV grant award conditions.”
The contractor will be responsible for the ongoing maintenance of the installed chargers, including warranty and maintenance support for a five-year period.
The electric vehicle charge points will be installed in car parks near residential areas to support residents without off street parking switching to electric vehicles.
The aim is to address barriers to residential electric vehicle take-up caused by having no dedicated off street parking.