This guide aims to assist local authority officers with procuring public chargepoints to enable residents, visitors, and businesses to transition to electric vehicles and address the climate emergency.

As the electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure market has matured, so has the variety of business models and funding options available to local authorities when procuring chargepoints. Combining grant funding with investment from the private sector is increasingly common, enabling local authorities to develop charging infrastructure without significant direct capital investment.

However, this approach has some drawbacks and not all sites are currently considered commercially attractive by suppliers.

This guide provides an overview of the two broad approaches available to local authorities, ‘own and operate’ and concession agreements, and outlines what a local authority can expect from a chargepoint operator based on interviews held with various suppliers. Please note that suppliers providing on-street lamppost chargepoints were underrepresented in the interviews held and may offer different contractual terms to those outlined in this guide.