BT unplugs plans to turn old cabinets into EV chargepoints
- Reference: 1737367265
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/01/20/bt_ev_chargepoints/
- Source link:
[1]It was all so different a year ago , when the company estimated that two-thirds of the 90,000 green cabinets squatting on UK streets could be repurposed as chargepoints for electric vehicles. After all, the cabinets already had a power source, and many would be redundant following the full fiber rollout.
The company pressed ahead with a pilot, with the first location set to be East Lothian, Scotland. And then it all went very quiet.
[2]
The Fast Charge newsletter, a UK mail-out, [3]reported that BT had stepped back from the plans earlier this week, claiming that their first electric vehicle charge point, installed in Scotland, "will be the only one" and plans were afoot to remove it in February.
[4]
[5]
A BT spokesperson confirmed as much to The Register , saying: "Our EV charging trials have focused on how we might help address the charging needs EV drivers face across the UK. By adopting a pilot process we have been able to test and explore a great deal about the challenges that many on-street EV drivers are facing with charging and where BT Group can add most value to the UK EV ecosystem. Other emerging needs we've identified include the Wi-Fi connectivity challenge surrounding EVs – our pilots will now shift in focus to explore this further. This is in line with BT Group's core focus on connectivity."
[6]Tesla recalls 239,382 vehicles over rearview camera problems
[7]EU buyers still shunning pure electric vehicles, prefer hybrids
[8]Combustion engines grind Linus Torvalds' gears
[9]Ford CEO admits he drives a Chinese electric vehicle and doesn't want to give it up
BT did not elaborate on those challenges. It might be that the company underestimated the permissions and red tape involved in the conversion process, or they might have been put off by the difficulty of maintaining chargers – out-of-order public chargers are a blight on many EV owners' lives and you'd need plenty of feet on the ground to fix those.
As for what has been deployed so far, the spokesperson said: "We're working with the local council on next steps for the site," which likely means a swift decommissioning and a fervent hope that nobody will speak of this again.
By focusing on Wi-Fi, BT is undoubtedly working to its strengths, although EV drivers needing a top-up will be disappointed that the scheme has fallen flat. According to eMobility service provider ZapMap, it knew of 73,699 EV charging points across the UK by the end of 2024, across 37,011 locations and 108,410 connectors. This is in addition to domestic and workplace charge points.
[10]
Even without the contribution from converting old cabinets, the UK remains on track to hit its goal of installing 300,000 chargepoints by 2030, [11]according to a December 2024 report from the country's National Audit Office. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/08/need_to_plug_in_an/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z44s2Ux1tDYrMVKhYc6-EAAAARM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.fastcharge.email/p/scoop-bt-pulls-plug-on-ev-charger
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z44s2Ux1tDYrMVKhYc6-EAAAARM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z44s2Ux1tDYrMVKhYc6-EAAAARM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/13/tesla_recalls_239382_vehicles_over/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/22/battery_electric_vehicles_acea_figures/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/30/linus_torvalds_ev/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/24/ford_china_electric_vehicle/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z44s2Ux1tDYrMVKhYc6-EAAAARM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/public-chargepoints-for-electric-vehicles/
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Location
The cabinets on pavements/sidewalks are usually nearest the edge that is opposite the road. That would mean the charging cable would obstruct pedestrians.
Also, only cabinets that are sited where it is safe to park can be considered.
Re: Location
You'd think that would be one of the things you'd survey before you announce 60,000 sites, though, wouldn't you?
Re: Location
My guess is that someone suggested this as an idea to investigate, a manager said "Yeah, worth setting up a team to see if it's viable". Then someone told the PR team on a quiet day and the whole thing got out of hand.
Re: Location
My local cabinet is between the pavement and the road, but it is at the corner on a junction, in the middle of a set of traffic lights, presumably so that cables from it can go in three different directions, so you definitely couldn't park there.
Re: Location
our local cabinet is half a mile from the nearest house. Plus on the junction of an A road.
Anyone got a worse location?
Re: Location
It wasn't the intention to have the charging port on the cabinet. The charging ports are on seperate columns near the green boxes - the power/communications comes from the box, and you then needed only a relatively short connection to where you place the charging columns themselves.
Sounds like a BT infrastructure project to me.
60,000 planned and 1 deployed and now we're scrapping it?
Yep, that's BT.
Re: Sounds like a BT infrastructure project to me.
Well, it seemed like a good idea but they've tried it and found it's impractical or too expensive to implement.
I suspect it's the latter as most old cabinets wouldn't have the required electrical supply capacity for charging even one EV let alone many since they were just connection boxes which don't need power or extracted what little they did need from the 48V DC line voltage
Re: Sounds like a BT infrastructure project to me.
The modern fibre boxes have mains supply, but probably not the 40A or so needed for for EV charging.
There's no chance in hell of charging from 48V, anyone who thought that they could do that didn't even bother to speak to an Engineer
But, I suspect the real reason this was canned was the engineering effort in rearranging the inside of the cabinet and finding room for an extra EVSE box and meter (many street cabinets are unmetered, but that wouldn't wash with the electric company as you mention adding a big load like an EV charger)
I note in the pictures of the only one they DID install, there is no green cabinet in sight.
I imagine an EV charger also requires significant quantities of power that a green comms cabinet probably didn't need so the "they're already connected to power" point is probably moot.
Yes but no but ….
Quite a few of such chargers appear not to actually be accessible to the average person unless you’re using the facilities of the land occupier. Ferry ports and hotels to name but two. McDonald’s is possibly tempting but you don’t have to eat any of their famously tasteless fries.