Rollout of new charging point network underway
The largest ever local authority rollout of electric vehicle charging points in the UK was officially launched in West Sussex last week.
The project will deliver huge improvements to EV provision, providing better access to charging facilities, particularly to those without off-street parking. Residents will be consulted over where they want the charging points located.
It is being delivered by Connected Kerb, which will install and maintain thousands of charging points across the county, in partnership with West Sussex County Council and most of the district and borough councils.
Councillors, alongside Connected Kerb representatives, gathered last week to mark the rollout. Attendees heard it was believed to be the biggest in the world outside of China and the ‘eyes of the UK’ would be on West Sussex.
Currently there are two tiers of access to infrastructure for electric vehicles. While it was described as ‘pretty easy’ for people with driveways to charge their cars, it is far more difficult for households who only have onstreet parking.
Research suggests one in four UK households intend to buy an electric car within the next five years as the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles approaches. But there is only one public access on-street EV charge point for every 52 EVs on the country’s roads. The project could deliver more than 3,000 new charge points and up to 7,000 within a decade.
Chris Pateman-Jones, CEO of Connected Kerb, described how the three main focuses of the new EV network were reliability, affordability and convenience. He said the ambition showed by West Sussex was ‘phenomenal’ and they were ‘proud’ to have been selected.
By putting more charging points in places where people leave their cars regularly, they would remove one of the main barriers to EV ownership.
James Wright, Horsham District Council’s cabinet member for environment and rural affairs, was at last Monday’s gathering. Afterwards he said: “They will make the switch to electric vehicles with more confidence and this will contribute greatly to our vision for a greener, cleaner district, reducing our dependence on fossil fuel.”