Balfour Beatty forms EV charge partnership

31 March 2023

Balfour Beatty has formed a partnership with the on-street electric vehicle charge point operator Urban Electric Networks to install more facilities throughout the UK.

Called Urban Fox, the partnership expects to provide up to 35,000 more charge points over the next decade and Balfour Beatty Investments plans to invest up to £60 million of capital into the initiative.

It will offer local authorities a comprehensive package for funding, building, operating and maintaining charge points across the counties in which they will be deployed.

Urban Electric Networks has developed a 7kW on-street charge point which is installed into pavements and retracts underground when not in use. The partnership says that, with 43 per cent of British households without access to off-street parking, it offers a charging solution that can be installed quickly as demand dictates.

The launch of Urban Fox follows five years of product development and testing of the retractable charging unit across Oxford, Dundee and Plymouth City Councils, as well as Staffordshire County Council. The pilots indicated that the chargers can be installed in approximately 80 per cent of streets.

Balfour Beatty Investments is an international infrastructure investor operating in the UK and US. In recent years, it has diversified into new markets including student accommodation, private rental sector housing, and the generation and transmission of renewable energy.