The Department for Transport (DfT) has appointed Zapmap as its electric vehicle (EV) chargepoint open data provider.
Due to the Public Charge Point Regulations (PCPR) 2023, charge point operators (CPOs) have been required from 24 November 2024 to make reference and availability data for all public chargepoints publicly available in a ‘machine-readable format’.
Under its contract, Zapmap has to aggregate and supply ‘all such data’ to the DfT. This agreement between the department and the company initially commenced on 8 December 2024 and was set to run until 8 December 2025. However, it also allows for two one-year extensions, which could extend the contract until the end of 2027.
In the contract award letter sent to Zapmap by the DfT, it stated that the contract was worth up to £1m, with an ‘initial commitment’ from the department to spend £240,000. However, it added that the DfT is under no obligation to ‘utilise the full value of the contract’.
The EV app service provider has already been working with the department since 2017 by providing information on the growth of the public chargepoint infrastructure throughout the UK.
The new contract will see the company deliver enhanced and ‘more granular open data’ that focuses on charging sessions and downtime at an electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) level.
This open data will be used to facilitate a ‘deeper understanding’ of usage patterns across different types of charging' to help deliver targeted growth and shape policy decisions, Zapmap said.
Melanie Shufflebotham, co-founder and COO at Zapmap, said: ‘We are delighted to have been awarded this significant contract, which recognises Zapmap’s robust data onboarding and quality control mechanisms and our strong, longstanding relationships within the industry. The availability of this data to government will support them in their decision-making and policy development, which in turn should help organisations and EV drivers make the switch to EV with confidence.’
Zapmap added that the data it will provide to the DfT will also be available to the rest of the industry via the Zapmap Insights product suite.
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