Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure & Associated Services - LEVI Fund Portsmouth Partner Operator Concession Agreement

Portsmouth City Council - the 'Council' - is undertaking a further stage of preliminary market engagement (PME) to inform the development of its approach for the delivery of 'Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure' (LEVI) funded electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. The Council is seeking to gain valuable market input through engagement with appropriately experienced & qualified EV charging infrastructure operators via a series of 1-1 on-line TEAMS meetings between the 14th - 21st November 2025. Further details on the booking process, deadlines, project team, meeting format, agenda discussion points, documentation, etc. are included within the PME brief document which is accessible via the Council's e-sourcing solution In-tend. The LEVI Fund has the following key objectives: • Deliver a step-change in the deployment of local, primarily low power, on-street charging infrastructure across England • Accelerate the commercialisation of, and investment in, the local charging infrastructure sector The Councils own Portsmouth 'Electric Vehicle Infrastructure' (EVI) strategy has the following key objectives: • Prioritise electric vehicle infrastructure for residents, enabling conversion to electric vehicles • Transform charging infrastructure provision in Portsmouth to promote it as an EV friendly destination for those visiting and working here • Working with fleet operators to support conversion to EV, including provision of infrastructure where required • Work in partnership to support shared and public modes conversion to EV. The Council has secured £3,682,000 LEVI funding, £3.5M of which will be used to part fund the delivery of EV chargepoints. The successful operator will be expected to secure and deploy the majority of capital funding required, in line with the LEVI objectives for commercialisation, leveraging private investment and enabling cross-subsidisation. The LEVI funding cannot be utilised for the on-going operation, maintenance and end of contract decommissioning of the infrastructure which will have to be met by the operator. Since the first PME process undertaken earlier this year over May - June (PME Notice: 2025/S […]), the Council has undertaken further long-term demand analysis and infrastructure requirements modelling. As a result of this the Council is now considering altering its approach for EV infrastructure delivery in relation to chargepoint numbers, technologies, output, locations and customer access but is seeking to gain the views of the market before making any formal decisions. The Council will use the market feedback gained from this PME process to finalise its approach. Approval will then be sought from the Council's Cabinet Member for Transport at the public meeting scheduled for 5th February 2026 to proceed to submission of the final business case and documentation to the funder, being the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV). In line with LEVI fund objectives and the Council's objectives, most of the on-street charge points should primarily be low powered between 7kW and 22kW and for the use of residents. The Council is targeting to have appointed the successful partner operator by September 2026 who will then be required to work in partnership with the council to install an agreed minimum number of chargepoints / sockets by a target date of 2031 on a phased basis. In respect of a minimum number of chargepoints to be delivered over a 5-year phased programme, the Council is considering reducing the target from the 3,600 pre-dominantly single-socket lower powered (3-5kW) lamp post column chargers stated in the previous PME process to a lower number of higher powered (7-22kW) dual-socket standalone chargepoints. This potential change in approach has been informed by revised CENEX and NEVIS v6 modelling to project the number of on-street residential EV charging sockets that are likely to be required to meet projected demand by 2050. The Council has also considered the increased …