Kent County Council (KCC) has awarded a 20-year contract to Urban Fox (part of Balfour Beatty Group) to install up to 10,000 on-street electric vehicle chargers across Kent, UK.

The programme will deliver around 10,000 on-street EV chargers, making it the largest rollout of its kind under the UK’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) scheme. It is supported by over £12 million (US$16 million) in government funding from the Department for Transport, along with private investment, and aims to address the growing demand for EV charging, particularly in residential areas where people do not have access to off-street parking. The company will be responsible for installing, operating, and maintaining the charging network across Kent. The rollout will begin in phases from summer 2026, with locations selected based on community demand and suitability, ensuring minimal disruption to residents and effective integration into local neighbourhoods.

The LEVI fund, managed by the Office of Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV), prioritises support for Tier 1 authorities to provide EV charging infrastructure, with a key focus on residential areas where households lack access to home charging. The contract is structured as a 20-year concession agreement under which the supplier will collaborate with the customer to design and implement a network of EV charge points, mainly ranging from 7 kWh to 22 kWh. The rollout of these chargers will occur over the first decade of the contract. Based on insights from CENEX and key project assumptions and risks, KCC has set indicative targets of delivering infrastructure for 4,000 sockets by 2030 and scaling up to 10,000 sockets by 2035. The council has also secured capital funding through the LEVI programme.