New electric vehicle chargers funding awarded to North East Ambulance Service, supporting investment into frontline care

Earlier this year, the Department for Health and Social Care awarded £10 million to 120 NHS sites across 42 trusts in England to support electric vehicle charging infrastructure projects and accelerate electrification of the NHS fleet.

As part of this national programme, NEAS will install high‑powered DC distributed charging systems at seven key ambulance stations, enabling emergency vehicles to charge at speeds of up to 150–200kW (vehicle‑dependent) and reach 80 per cent charge in around 15 minutes.

Martin Gibson, environmental sustainability manager at North East Ambulance Service, said: “This funding is a significant step forward for NEAS as we prepare for a future electric ambulance fleet. Reliable, high‑powered charging infrastructure is essential to ensuring electric vehicles can operate safely and effectively in an emergency setting. By investing now, we are supporting cleaner transport, reducing long‑term running costs and helping to build a more sustainable ambulance service for the communities we serve.”

The investment will see a total of 46 rapid charging ports installed, with a combined power capacity of 1,250kW, at the following locations:

• Alnwick
• Backworth
• Bishop Auckland
• Blucher
• Coulby Newham
• Consett
• Stockton

Investing in electric charge points will deliver reductions in fuel and maintenance costs that can be redirected into frontline care. Nationally, this programme will support the NHS to realise annual operational savings of £59 million, while helping deliver the NHS Net Zero Travel and Transport Strategy and wider public health benefits through reduced emissions and improved air quality.

This funding brings total Government investment in NHS charging infrastructure to £22 million, following the Department for Transport’s recent announcement of a £4 million extension to the Charge point Accelerator Scheme, building on £8 million previously provided by DfT for NHS electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

The charging infrastructure programme directly supports NEAS’s wider electric vehicle rollout, which includes the introduction and trial of electric emergency ambulance vehicles as part of the Trust’s commitment to sustainability, operational resilience and patient safety.