Octopus inject £50m to improve Northern Ireland’s EV charging network.

Northern Ireland has long been lagging behind the rest of the UK in the development of its electric vehicle charging infrastructure – according to Department for Transport figures, the region had only 20 public charge points per 100,000 people compared to the UK average of 60. 

To help rectify this, Octopus Investments have announced the investment of £50m into the Belfast-based charge point operator Weev.

This will be the first investment for Octopus Sustainable Infrastructure Fund which aims to invest in renewable energy assets in Europe and Australia.  The fund received cornerstone investment from the UK Infrastructure Bank, whose CEO, John Flint said: ‘We invested in the Octopus Sustainable Investment Fund with the purpose of increasing capital for the next generation of sustainable infrastructure projects across the UK. The potential Weev has to scale up EV charging in Northern Ireland is significant, and we look forward to seeing the impact on decarbonising the local transport infrastructure to support the UK’s transition to net zero.’

Weev was set up by Dominic Kearns and Thomas O’Hagan in 2022 to create Northern Ireland’s largest privately operated EV charging network. The company installs public chargers and end-to-end EV solutions for workplace and fleet. 

Philip Rainey, Weev’s CEO said: ‘This investment from Octopus enables a major expansion to the size and scope of the rollout we announced at launch last year.  We can now increase our focus on providing more rapid and ultra-rapid charging hubs in response to growing demand from EV drivers. In total, the capital will enable us to install and maintain a network of thousands of EV charging points over the next five years using locally-based teams and expertise.’

Lukasz Michalak, Investment Director, Sustainable Infrastructure, at Octopus, said: ‘OSIF is focused on investing growth capital into sustainable infrastructure businesses tackling climate change and supporting levelling-up ambitions across the UK. Weev is the perfect example of the next generation of infrastructure companies doing just that. By backing Weev, we see a great opportunity to deliver a positive impact to Northern Ireland’s communities while meeting the financial objectives of the fund.’