Transport & Energy news round-up

Here transportandenergy.com brings you a round-up of all the latest news and stories from councils and local authorities across the UK.

South Tyneside Council

The STC has further expanded its network of electric vehicle charging points with 10 new 7kw charging posts for plug-in vehicles installed in locations around the borough, taking the total to 55.

The new points have all been sited in residential areas, particularly where off-street parking is not available.

The council received £55k in grant funding from the Department for Transport’s On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme. One of the council’s key priories is to invest in the built environment.

Cllr Jim Foreman, Lead Member for Housing and Transport, said: “By continuing to grow our network of charging points, we hope that more residents will consider electric or hybrid vehicles and benefit from improved air quality. These points are all located in residential areas, making it convenient and easy to recharge.”

Isle of Wight

Meanwhile, the Isle of Wight Council has been ‘slammed’ for installing an EV charging point in a residential area of East Cowes, taking away much needed parking spaces in an area where residents often struggle to find one.

The council reportedly announced the installation of the twin-socket EV charge point in a letter to residents, but admitted it didn’t have a high demand to start with.

While welcoming the charging point, East Cowes town councillor, Cameron Palin, said he was disappointed they were not consulted about the location, and expressed concern that if residents parked in the allocated bay without the need for charging, they could receive a fine.

Dorset

Down in Dorset a milestone has been reached in their EV chargepoint installation programme, with the first phase seeing the installation of 42 chargepoints in 21 locations around the county.

This includes five replacement rapid chargers and one new rapid charger at the Langton Road Car Park, Blandford Forum.

The council are now planning the next phase, with up to 44 more fast chargers and seven more rapid chargers at 24 new locations around the county. Several of these rapid chargers are expected to be 150kW ultra-rapid chargers.

The chargepoints are a joint project with installers, Joju Charging and Mer, who have pledged at least £500k to the second phase of the programme.

Camden, London

In Camden it’s been reported that a lack of charging points is stopping drivers from making the switch to electric vehicles. With the recent ULEZ expansion Camden motorists with older vehicles are now facing a £12.50 daily charge.

There are currently 259 lamp column charge points across the borough, 72 fast-charge points and 11 rapid-charge points, and the council says it is planning to install a further 162 fast-charge points over the coming months.

Councillor, Oliver Cooper, said: “Bringing in the ULEZ, they also need to help people with the charging points.”

Southend

All new housing and commercial developments built in Southend-on-Sea could have electric vehicle charging points, as part of a proposed new planning policy to be discussed at cabinet next week.

This follows on from a public consultation undertaken earlier this year that saw 92% of respondents agree or strongly agree with the change in policy.

Under the policy, every new residential building with an associated car parking space would need to have a charge point installed as standard.

Oxford City Council

The OCC recently suffered acts of vandalism against three of its EV chargers. The damage was caused by people trying to bypass the payment system and charge their vehicle for free. All of the attempts were unsuccessful due to failsafe systems in the chargers.

The damaged chargers are installed the top of Southfield Road, off Cowley Rd, Frenchay Road in north Oxford, and Sandfield Road in Headington.

As a result of the vandalism the chargers are currently out of action and awaiting repair.

Gateshead

Gateshead council have installed a new fast charging station for at the iconic Angel of the North. The charging station will be operated and maintained through a contract with FastNed.

Costs for charging are 39p per kilowatt hour, or 29p for ‘gold’ members of the Fastned membership scheme.

There are four outlets from the two 50 kilowatt rapid chargers on site, which have been delivered through Go Ultra Low North East, a £3m project funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the UK Government’s Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV).

And finally…

A FOI request has revealed that 52% of UK councils made no investment in EV charging infrastructure last year.

While some parts of the country have made sizable investments in EV infrastructure, others have spent nothing, and/or received no government funding to do so.

The findings are presented in a new report from DevicePilot, which argues that the UK is not yet ready for the inevitable arrival of universal EV ownership.

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