Electric vehicle charging network to be upgraded

There are 133 public charging sockets on the Isle of Man

A £100,000 upgrade to the Isle of Man's electric vehicle charging point network after its current provider decided to leave the market.

A three-month programme. which will see 133 charging points replaced across the island, is due to start in October by government-owned Manx Utilities (MU).

MU chairman John Wannenburgh MHK said while the works were being carried out sooner than anticipated, updates would have been needed in future.

He said he expected to see "some form of compensation" to assist with the costs of installing new Evolt Charging points following UK provider Pod Points' exit from the market.

The charging points are available in public car parks around the island

The work will start at the utility provider's Ballacottier headquarters, the Comis Hotel and on Loch Promenade.

Rapid chargers already in place at the Sea Terminal and Tesco stores in Peel, Port Erin and Ramsey are not set to be replaced, but will be integrated into the new platform.

MU said the change would "maintain and significantly enhance the quality and capacity of stations", support the growing number of EV drivers, and "contribute to a more efficient sustainable future for all".

The majority of existing 7kW charge points would be upgraded to 22kW units allowing for "faster vehicle charging and better accommodation of the growing number of electric vehicles on the road", it said.

The current charging points will be upgraded under the project

Over the last 12 months the number of vehicle registrations using the service has grown to 1,377 and the service has provided 1,479,229 miles (2,380,588km) of travel.

Mr Wannenburgh said the upgrade was an "opportunity for us to offer an enhanced experience and more sustainable way of doing things in the future".

"We have got to continually update this critical infrastructure for the Isle of Man's benefit," he said.

"It's not a nice to have, its an absolutely have to have."