‘No point charging ahead’ says council
Royal Borough: Area ‘sixth worst’ for electric vehicle chargers
Windsor and Maidenhead is the ‘sixth worst’ area for electric vehicle charging infrastructure, new data reveals..
A calculation by price comparison website Compare The Market showed that there are about 0.78 chargers for every 100 electric vehicles (EVs). There are 39 charging points for 5,001 registered electric vehicles in the area, it found.
Slough fared even worse, with just 0.33 chargers per 100 Evs (68 for 20,507 vehicles).
By comparison, Coventry was ranked as the bestequipped area for electric charging points, with 40.86 chargers for every 100 vehicles.
Despite this low number, Cllr Gerry Clark, the Royal Borough’s lead member for infrastructure, has said that he has
only received a handful of communications from residents about the matter.
He added that the borough is planning ‘a significant piece of work’ to improve the number of EV charging points.
Cllr Clark expects to have an EV charging strategy in place in time for the next budget, by the end of this financial year. The council will be looking to build a ‘clearer picture’ of the situation, as it expects much to change.
This includes the falling price of electric cars – but also changing work patterns. As more people work from home, demand for electric-powered personal vehicles may also fall.
The borough will be looking at pilot schemes elsewhere to determine what will be a wise investment.
“The review isn’t a simple one – we have to be guided by data and position ourselves with the right scheme. We want to make wise decisions,” said Cllr Clark.
“It would be inappropriate to make high levels of investment above demand.”
Though there is some Government funding for EV charging points, it is ‘not much’ and the borough will also need to look into how to finance such changes.
Practically, there are a few complications. Residents without access to off-street parking have requested charging points with cabling that connects under footways, which the borough is ‘not keen on’, for safety reasons.
The borough also has limited power over the number of charging points on private land, including those included in the plans of new developments in the making.
“We can encourage developers to include EV charging points, we can recommend it, but we can’t demand it,” said Cllr Clark.
Opposition councillor Wisdom da Costa (WWRA, Clewer & Dedworth West) said the council should still require developers include plans for hardwiring that would allow charging points to be added to properties at a later date.