London college says it offers UK's first electric vehicle charger course
It follows concerns there will not be enough skilled installers to meet government charging targets. London College has announced that it is offering the UK's first electric vehicle charger course. Tim Weston, director of career pathways at the college, said the course was too challenging for apprentices, but they have proved it by passing it. According to figures from Zap-Map, which is used by the Department for Transport, in the last three months of 2022, 2,401 EV charging points were installed - roughly 25% of the monthly installation rate needed to reach the government's target. However, recent quarterly figures show installations have now gone up to 5,474, but this is still below the rate needed for reaching the target. Melanie Shufflebotham, founder of Zap- Map, said she was not concerned about the lack of charging points, adding funding was in place and it was now about "implementation at pace". Meanwhile, electric car website electrifying.com said hitting the targets was still an issue but the focus on numbers was not helpful while there were still "charging wastelands" around the UK.
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Tim Weston, director of career pathways at the college, said normally such courses would be only for competent electricians but the institution "no longer had the luxury" to wait around for people to reach that level.
He said there were worries these courses would be too challenging for apprentices, but believes their learners have disproved these by passing the course.
"This really is the beginning of something - there are huge skills shortages, not just to do with EV points but all renewables," he explained.
"All of them are going to come in as we try and decarbonise across London and we have a short time to do this and we need the skilled staff now."
Electrical apprentice Chris Fearon, who used to be a care worker, is now in his final year of his apprenticeship and has completed the course.
He said: "It will be very useful to me to add to my toolkit, open up doors for me, as well as having the standard electrical installation qualification."
According to figures from Zap-Map, which is used by the Department for Transport (DfT), in the last three months of 2022, 2,401 EV charging points were installed - roughly 25% of the monthly installation rate needed to reach the government's target.
Recent quarterly figures show installations have now gone up to 5,474, but this is still below the rate needed to reach the target.
Melanie Shufflebotham, founder of Zap-Map, said she "wasn't concerned" about the lack of charging points, adding funding was in place and it was now about "implementation at pace".
"The charge point operators are ready. Charge UK, which is the trade body for the operators, have got £6bn already committed for charge points to go into the ground before 2030," she added.
Meanwhile Ginny Buckley, from electric car website electrifying.com, said hitting the targets was still an issue but the focus on numbers was not helpful while there were still "charging wastelands" around the UK.
"The government should be looking at getting the right speed chargers in the right locations instead," she said.
A DfT spokesperson said: "We have put more than £2bn into supporting the switch to electric vehicles, and there are now more than 48,000 public charging devices across the UK.
Chủ đề: Academia, Green Energy, Europe, United Kingdom, Electric Vehicles, ESG