Plymouth council to spend millions on electric car charging points

Plymouth City Council is to spend more than £2m installing hundreds of charging points for electric cars. The authority said it is to encourage more people to switch to electric vehicles (EV) as statistics show there are only about 2,000 in the city.

The focus will be on trialling new ways for residents to charge a vehicle at home if they don’t have access to off-street parking, such as a driveway or garage. About 37% of households in Plymouth do not have off-street parking and have to travel if they want to charge an electric car.

The council said EV charging on-street is not allowed unless at an official charging station. So it is looking at “multiple on-street street solutions” with an aim of developing a more supportive policy and is asking people if they want to take part in a trial.

An executive decision has now been signed to set up the trial as part of the council’s electric vehicle strategy. The authority will allocate £2.415m, obtained from the Government’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund, to install:

• 100 cross-pavement channels to enable residents to run a cable from an electricity supply in their house. This is new for Plymouth and would initially be done on a trial basis.
• 600 pedestal and/or flush fitting 7kW chargers (servicing 1,200 charging bays). These will be publicly available chargers installed on streets and in car parks in areas where residents do not have access to off-street parking.

The council wants to hear from people who are keen to take part in the trial but said not every location is suitable. It will depend on who owns land, the position of trees, green spaces and obstacles on pavements.

Many of the existing public EV charge points in Plymouth, are super-fast chargers aimed at those who need to charge their cars quickly. There is, however, a lack of chargers in residential areas, where residents often wish to charge their cars more cheaply overnight.

More drivers are making the switch to EV, with them now accounting for more than 16% of the new UK car market in 2023, according to industry statistics. However, EVs uptake in Plymouth has been slower than the UK average, with only 1.5% of 134,000 registered cars and vans being EVs, as of mid 2024, compared to more than 4.6% across the UK.

Affordability and insufficient financial incentives, along with perceived range anxiety have been some of the key barriers to EV uptake in Plymouth, the council said. It said it is committed to supporting residents and businesses to transition to net zero as part of its goal to become a “green city” by 2030,

Cllr Mark Coker, cabinet member for transport, said: “EVs are a key component for how we get out and about in the future and it’s great to see that the city is starting to adapt and put this into practice. We already have over 300 parking bays for electric vehicle charging across the city, but we need to make it easier for residents to charge electric vehicles close to home.”

The council will review requests from the public for proposals for pavement channels. Charge point companies will install charge points across the city. The council has divided the city into 164 areas and all will have charge points.

Find out more and how to apply for the EV charging trial here.

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