Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to announce a £65 million investment into an electric car charging company as part of her eagerly awaited growth speech on Wednesday.
According to City AM, the newly established National Wealth Fund (NWF) will acquire an equity stake in Connect Kerb, working alongside Aviva Investors, the global asset management division of Aviva Group, as reported by .
The NWF is poised to invest £55 million, with Aviva committing a further £10 million. This marks one of the initial investments by the NWF, which is a Treasury-owned yet operationally autonomous entity that took over from the National Infrastructure Bank.
Connected Kerb is looking to use this capital boost to increase its chargepoint provision fourfold to 40,000, aligning with the government's push to promote electric vehicle (EV) adoption. The government has set an ambitious target to install at least 30,000 public EV chargepoints by 2030, in anticipation of the impending bans on the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles.
Future of Roads Minister Lilian Greenwood commented: "The funding follows a record of nearly 20k public charge points added last year. "
She also noted, "With a further £6bn in the pipeline from industry by 2030, the switch to EVs is driving investment across the country, supporting jobs and making the º£½ÇÊÓƵ a clean energy superpower to deliver our plan for change."
Chris Pateman-Jones, CEO of Connected Kerb, commented on the transformative potential of a recent investment: "This is a game-changing investment that will give individuals and businesses the confidence to make the switch to driving electric, dramatically reducing carbon emissions and air pollution. We are delighted to have such high profile investors who deeply aligned with our sustainability and ethical goals."
Meanwhile, Rachel Reeves is poised to voice her support for several major aviation projects, including Heathrow airport's contentious third runway, developments at Gatwick and Luton airports, as well as advocating for relaxed planning regulations in Oxfordshire.
Her endorsement comes amidst a challenging early tenure in government marked by fierce backlash from corporate circles in reaction to broad tax increases.
