Barking and Dagenham Council has been awarded £1.2 million in funding from the Office for Zero Emissions Vehicles to significantly expand the borough's electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.
The funding, announced at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday 16 September 2025, will be used in partnership with the London Borough of Tower Hamlets to install 300 standard/fast chargers and 26 rapid chargers. This collaboration was driven by the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) grant requirement for boroughs to bid on a partnership basis, with the specific goal of supporting volume deployment and scaled-up delivery to meet residential charging demand.
Neil Pearce, Head of Sustainability & Parks Commissioning, and David Harley, Strategic Director for Inclusive Growth and Place, authored the report pack. It stated that Barking and Dagenham remains in the lowest quartile in London for electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The borough currently has 3,602 registered plug-in electric or hybrid cars and light goods vehicles.
Councillor Syed Ghani noted the timeliness of the funding, stating that it comes at a time when everyone is buying electric vehicles
.
Councillor Cameron Geddes, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Economic Development, noted that the council is improving, having gone up from 69 to 153 charging points
in the last year. He also clarified that the council will choose the sites for the new chargers.
The report pack for the meeting stated that the government launched a £185m Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) grant in 2024 to support volume deployment and scaled-up delivery to meet residential charging demand.
