Electric Vehicle Charge Point Concession Contract Southampton City Council

As of December 2023, Southampton City Council owns and manage 53 public chargers at 18 locations offering up to 69 vehicles to charge at any one time making it the largest provider of charging facilities in the city. To date these chargers have mostly been located in the council's city centre multi-storey car parks and seeing a steady increase in use since first installed.

It's expected that the number and proportion of EVs driving in the city's roads will continue to increase as consumer confidence in EVs increases and more affordable models come onto the market. The introduction of more public EV charging infrastructure not only helps support existing EV drivers get around, but also encourages more drivers to consider switching to a cleaner vehicle.

Southampton has been able to secure Capital Funding from the Government's Low Emission Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) scheme of £1.630M. This funding is designated for Local Authorities to deliver a rapid increase EV charging infrastructure within their regions, primarily on-street capability. A requirement of the funding is to seek additional private investment that maximises the amount of chargepoints that can be implemented.

Portfolio Based Approach

We are expecting a minimum of 505 chargepoints over the life of the contract, with a third (168) installed by 2028, (more detailed within annex 4) in order to meet the expected rise in EV uptake within the City. These units will need to be 'slow' to 'standard' powered EV chargers of any type within reason and based on what will serve the community best. All EV chargers are to serve the residents, wards, and communities of Southampton. They will need to be on-street unless exceptional circumstances mean it is not possible, i.e, insufficient width, power supply, conservation/ protected area. When EV chargers are to be installed off-street, this must be done so they will still be used/ serve the residents, Wards, and communities of Southampton.

What we want to see

We want to procure a single Chargepoint Operator as a partner to roll out this new EVI network. They need to share our vision and ambitions for a consistent, affordable, easy to use, reliable, widely accessible, and recognisable charging network across the city.

We have determined a single supplier approach rather than a lot-based one for the following reasons:

• Determining certain types of chargepoint product within lots could be a risk without site evaluations as it may be determined that certain locations are not compatible with a specific piece of hardware. A supplier will be sought who can provide a range of options.
• The requirement to manage multiple suppliers will be resource intensive and may impact the quality of the service offered.
• The need to build a strategic long-term partnership is better served with an agreement with one trusted supplier in a carefully managed contract.
• Given the current response to mixed suppliers within the local chargepoint network it is clear that residents want a standardised and recognisable service.
• One supplier will reduce the governance and decision-making processes that can often delay the implementation of work.
• The purpose of the tender is to maximise the total number of chargepoints and charging output - this is likely to be better achieved if economy of scale can be applied to the solution provided by a chargepoint operator.

Estimated Contract Value

Estimated contract value (total) - this value is based on possible increase in uptake of Electric Vehicles - £30,000,000