Revamped design of charging points in hope they will become as ‘iconic’ as red telephone boxes

Electric vehicle charge points are to receive a makeover in the hope they will become as ‘iconic’ as red telephone boxes under plans drawn up by the Department for Transport (DfT).

The Government is advertising a contract worth £200,000 for a design team to develop an public electric vehicle chargepoint that will become similarly iconic to the UK’s traditional red phone and pillar boxes.

Details listed online by the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) – part of the Department for Transport (DfT) – say the brief is to develop an “iconic, functional public EV chargepoint” that has the potential to become “a piece of iconic British street furniture”.

The design, OZEV says, will be “a guide for local authorities and companies who wish to use it”, with the aim of generating “excitement” for the public EV chargepoint rollout.

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The Government announced last year that new conventional petrol and diesel cars will be banned from sale in 2030, with hybrids following in 2035.

The aim is for virtually all cars on UK roads to be electric by 2050, by which point the country is planning to be carbon-neutral.