IN Brief:
- The West of England Combined Authority has issued procurement for the WESTCharge EV charging infrastructure programme.
- The concession covers charging infrastructure across Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire.
- The opportunity includes delivery, connection, commissioning, operation, and maintenance of public EV charging assets.
The West of England Combined Authority has issued procurement for the WESTCharge electric vehicle charging infrastructure programme, creating a long-term concession opportunity for public charging deployment across the region.
The project covers charging infrastructure across Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire. The procurement is linked to Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure funding and is intended to support public charge point delivery in areas where access to off-street parking and private charging is limited.
The Find a Tender notice identifies the opportunity under procurement identifier ocds-h6vhtk-06b465. The programme is being taken forward as an EV charging infrastructure concession, with market engagement including a tender conference. The long procurement horizon reflects the scale and complexity of regional charging rollout.
The technical scope spans much more than installation of individual charging units. Public charging programmes require site selection, grid connection assessment, civils, earthing design, feeder-capacity checks, metering, protection, communications, payment systems, accessibility, signage, maintenance access, and long-term asset management. Delivery also requires coordination between local authorities, distribution network operators, charge point operators, installers, highways teams, residents, and landowners.
WESTCharge has previously been framed around four objectives: raising public awareness of electric vehicles and charge point types, identifying where charge points are most needed, building more charge points, and improving access across communities. Procurement turns that framework into a delivery and operations challenge.
Local authority charging programmes are becoming larger and more structured. Early public deployments were often fragmented, with small groups of chargers installed under limited funding rounds. The LEVI model is pushing authorities toward larger concessions, private-sector investment, and longer operating periods. That changes the requirement placed on contractors and operators, because delivery now includes network planning, connection management, availability performance, maintenance, user support, and commercial operation.
Other UK authorities are moving in the same direction. Hampshire’s 17,180-charger rollout with Believ, set out in coverage of the county’s LEVI-backed concession, shows the scale now being sought in local public charging. Liverpool’s expansion of lamppost charging, outlined in the city’s residential charging deployment, shows another route, using existing street-lighting assets to increase access where off-street parking is limited.
The West of England geography creates varied deployment conditions. Urban streets, suburban neighbourhoods, rural communities, tourist areas, commercial districts, and transport corridors each create different charging requirements. Some locations may suit slower residential charging, while others need faster units near destinations, fleet activity, taxi ranks, or interchange sites.
Grid connection will be a central practical constraint. A single AC charge point may be straightforward, but charger clusters, rapid units, and sites designed for future expansion can require reinforcement, new service connections, feeder upgrades, or load management. Smart charging, dynamic load balancing, and phased deployment can reduce immediate reinforcement requirements, but those functions need to be designed into the programme from the start.
Long-term operation will be just as important as deployment volume. Public chargers are judged by availability, ease of payment, reliability, response times, and maintenance quality. Poorly performing infrastructure can weaken confidence even where chargers are technically present. Concession models therefore need clear performance obligations, fault-response standards, lifecycle replacement assumptions, and transparent data reporting.
Accessibility is now part of the core specification for public charging. Charger height, cable reach, pavement width, parking bay layout, lighting, kerb position, and payment access all affect usability. PAS 1899 has become a key reference point for accessible public charging design, and larger public programmes are increasingly expected to address it.
WESTCharge marks another step in the shift from isolated charger installations to planned public infrastructure. The harder task is to build a reliable, maintainable, accessible, and grid-aware network across varied local conditions. Local authorities can identify the need and structure the concession, but delivery will depend on electrical design, connection strategy, contractor capacity, and long-term operational discipline.
Suppliers and contractors can review the opportunity through the WESTCharge Find a Tender notice.
