British Telecom is exploring an innovative way to support the transition to electric vehicles in the UK by converting their green street cabinets into EV charging points.

These cabinets, numbering around 90.000 across the country, currently provide copper-based broadband and telephone services. However, they are set to be decommisssioned as BT shifts to full fibre optic networks. The company estimates 60.000 of the cabinets could potentially be retrofitted with EV charging capability

To test the viability of this proposal, ETC, BT’s innovation arm, will run a series of pilots over the next two years. The first pilot will launch in Northern Ireland this fall, initially offering charging access to BT employees. It plans to later expand the trial to the general public and launch additional pilots in other parts of the UK

If succesful, BT’s cabinet charging project could significantly expand  UK’s public charging capacity, which in the UK is critical to the adoption of electric vehicles in urban areas where not everybody can get a personal EV charger installation.