Council identifies car parks as potential location for electric vehicle charging points

Derbyshire Council has identified that a key barrier for many residents getting an electric car is, even if they install a charging point, they do not have a driveway on which to park their vehicle.

This would mean residents have to drag a cable from their house to a car parked on the street, which carries the risk of someone else using their electricity to charge their vehicle and also presents a hazard to people walking on the pavement.

The council describes the scheme as an “innovative solution in some of the county’s more traditional housing areas”.

It says: “Although the selection of sites will be predominantly led by resident demand, joint work will be undertaken with the council’s highways service to ensure use of its assets is appropriate and that any potential for revenue income is maximised.

“In this way, as electric vehicle uptake and subsequent demand for on-street charging increases, a strategic approach to network expansion will be adopted.”

Meanwhile, the council says, after looking at more than 400 car parks across the county, it says it has found 60 potential sites which would cater for an additional 300 charging points.

Each location would have a different mix of slow, fast or rapid-charging points based on the destination, with rapid facilities prioritised for “key transit corridors”.

The council will work with district and borough authorities and charging point providers to set-up these new facilities. It has £1.65 million to contribute to these joint projects.

In July last year, the council said the county urgently needed more, well-placed charging points, with vehicle usage increasing rapidly.

However, it also said public charging points were only being used 12 per cent of the time, on average.

The county council has listed 77 potential sites, including locations in Alfreton, Pinxton and Shirebrook:

• Rogers Lane East, Alfreton;

• Town End, Bolsover;

• Victoria Road, Pinxton;

• Ashbourne Street, Shirebrook.