Kentish Express Ashford & District
£1 to charge your electric car
Electric car drivers will have to cough up £1 to a nationwide network for every time they charge their engines, a report says.
Kent County Council and Ashford Borough Council first brought in the electric charge points in 2014 at a cost of £237,000, despite the fact there were only 50 electric cars on the county’s roads at the time. But since then, the numbers of electric cars has continued to grow, with an estimated 100 drivers using five charge points in Ashford and Tenterden.
Meanwhile nationwide it is believed that 1.3% of all vehicles are now electric, along with 100,000 vehicles such as lorries and buses.
The initial costs for installing and maintaining the charge points was met by KCC grants and section 106 contributions from housing developers. Now, it has been revealed that the Charge Your Car network is going to ask motorists to pay £1 every time they use a charge point to cover costs of administration and maintenance.
Ashford Borough Council’s parking team has reviewed the costs of maintaining the charge points in its car parks, but has recommended that no extra costs should be imposed on top of the network fees. Team leader Chris Miller says the five points in Tenterden and Ashford cost £2,000 per year in electricity and £2,285 per year to maintain.
He recommends that electric owners are not charged to use the charging points, and said the council can continue to review the changes to the motoring market to see if the provision is best value for money in three year’s time.
Ashford Borough Council’s cabinet member for highways Cllr Brad Bradford said: “Sup- porting the use of electric vehicle charging points is important now but with sales of new electric vehicles increasing and with a growing political emphasis on health and clean air this it will become a pressing consideration for us in the future.
“We should show our respect and open support for those drivers who seek to fulfil their social responsibility and assist in providing a cleaner, healthier and more sustainable borough for the future.”