New electric vehicle charging points are being installed across the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors in a deal paid for by BMW working in partnership with the National Parks.

In the Dales, 12 EV charge-points have been installed at the Malham Park Centre; the Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes; and Grassington National Park Centre. In the North York Moors, six chargers are at the Sutton Bank Centre, and a further six are being installed at Danby Lodge National Park Centre.

The new chargers come as the government announced funding for North Yorkshire specifically of £5,375,000 which could support the installation of hundreds of new chargers. They say it will ensure the rollout continues at pace to support EV drivers in North Yorkshire and those looking to make the switch.

Across the country 100 EV officers have been recruited to support the buying and installation of chargepoints. The aim is to help local authorities build a skilled workforce to deliver them. 

There’s also support for greener schools with new grants up to 75 per cent to buy and install chargepoints. The grants come through the Department for Transport as part of their workplace charging scheme.

Neil Heseltine, chair of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority said: "The Yorkshire Dales National Park welcomed 5.1 million visitors in 2022. We’re so pleased that our partnership with BMW UK will support those travelling to Yorkshire’s National Parks in EVs, to do so with more confidence. Part of our responsibility is to conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of our Parks and this includes facilitating more sustainable journeys to the Parks."

The UK has 54,000 public charging points but one third are in London. Every year 93 million visits are made by car to the to the UK’s National Parks.

Graham Biggs, Corporate Communications Director for BMW UK, said: "The UK’s EV infrastructure rollout is continuing at pace and we need to see this accelerate to reach at least 300,000 charge-points by 2030. It’s important that the distribution of these chargers is spread right across the country and we need to ensure that our countryside is brought up to speed with the bigger cities.

"Access to nature for everybody is so important and we’re pleased to be supporting the Recharge in Nature partnership to enable and encourage this through EV infrastructure, bus services and community engagement programmes."

The North York Moors National Park is also using BMW funding to support outdoor volunteering programmes for families and young adults. The goal is to boost the physical and mental wellbeing of those volunteering and establish a community of committed conservationists, particularly encouraging young people.

The BMW Group says it has set clear CO2 reduction targets across the lifecycle of every vehicle and is seeking new ways to cut emissions.