UK telecoms firm BT has installed its first electric vehicle (EV) charge point repurposed from one of its old street cabinets.

The telco this week announced that it had installed the charge station in East Lothian, Scotland, as part of a pilot to repurpose its old street cabinets.

In January, BT announced plans to re-use the existing street infrastructure which has traditionally been used to store broadband and phone cabling.

The charger is powered by a BT Group-owned cabinet, and forms part of a nationwide pilot by the business’ start-up incubation hub, called Etc., designed to address the shortfall in public EV charging infrastructure.

The repurposing of the existing street furniture is expected to help address the lack of chargers on UK roads, with this number currently standing at just 53,000.

By 2030, the UK government wants to increase this figure to 300,000.

“With our research showing that 78 percent of petrol and diesel drivers see not being able to conveniently charge an EV as a key a barrier to purchasing one, and the UK behind government-set sustainability targets, it’s critical that we start looking at existing infrastructure to drive innovation at speed," said Tom Guy, managing director, Etc., BT Group.

"These trials present a unique opportunity to tap into existing assets to drive the important transition to electrification in the UK, and we’re proud to be working with local councils in East Lothian and more widely across the UK at this critical stage to play our part.”

The charger in East Lothian is available for local residents to charge their electric vehicles at no cost until May 31 as part of the pilot. BT said that the pilot will focus on West Yorkshire next, with ambitions to scale up to 600 trial sites across the UK.

To use the charge point, EV drivers can download the trial app from the App Store or Google Play Store, the telco said.

Etc. has designed and developed the app, which it notes can provide visibility of EV chargers across the UK, alongside real-time pricing, availability, and charge speed, plus the ability to start, stop, and monitor charge sessions via the app and to filter by connector type, kW speed, and charging network.

Etc. said it has identified 4,800 street cabinets that could be upgraded as EV charge points.