BT has abandoned plans to convert green street cabinets into electric vehicle (EV) charging points, having completed just one of an initially stated 60,000 conversions.

The metal casings commonly seen on streets across the UK are used to house telephone and broadband cables.

when it Project announced in April 2024BT said repurposing cupboards was a "unique opportunity" to tackle a "key barrier" to people ditching petrol and diesel cars.

However, that plan has now been scrapped, with the company saying it will focus on "the Wi-Fi connectivity challenges surrounding electric vehicles."

"It's disappointing that it won't go ahead," Stuart Marson of automotive website Car Experts told BBC News.

He added: "The good news we're seeing in the industry is that the overall rollout of chargers is faster than predicted a few years ago."

However, he said most charging stations were located in busier areas rather than on streets close to people's homes, meaning BT's decision was still a setback.

Mr Masson welcomed its commitment to improving wireless infrastructure around electric vehicle charging points.

"It's very frustrating when you come to a charging point and log into the app and you can't get a connection because you're buried in some multi-storey car park with no signal," he said.

"It would be great if BT could do something about this."

As BT upgrades to fiber broadband, many green cabinets are coming to the end of their life.

But only one charging station in East Lothian has actually been converted into a public charging station.

The store will reportedly close in February fast charging Newsletter, breaking this story.

The charger is currently listed as "out of order" on the Evve Charge app, which shows the locations of UK electric car chargers.

East Lothian Council has been contacted for comment.

A spokesman for BT Group said the trial was "a substantial test of the challenges many street EV drivers face when it comes to charging and where BT Group can add the most value to the UK EV ecosystem."

They added: “Other emerging needs we have identified include Wi-Fi connectivity challenges around electric vehicles – our pilots will now shift focus to explore this further.”

The government has set a goal of establishing 300,000 public charging points by 2030.

Its own statistics show there are 73,334 public charging facilities in the UK, a 37% increase on a year ago.

Nearly a third of these are in Greater London, according to EV Charging Company map.