Pavement car charging trial in Coventry
Charging points for the growing number of Coventry’s electric vehicles (EV) could soon be found in kerb stones, lamp posts and in the pavement itself if a series of pilot schemes across the city proove successful.
That was the message to councillors when they were briefed on the city council’s ten-year strategy with experts predicting that half the vehicles on the road in 2035 will be electric.
Senior council officer Rosie Coyle told this week’s Wednesday meeting of the business, economy and enterprise scrutiny board that Coventry was already well served with charging points with just over 2,000 available to the public – the third highest figure in the country and the highest outside of London.
It was also revealed that a number of 18-month pilot schemes were running across the city including one involving seven homes where EV drivers had a charge point installed in their house with cables then set into the pavement in what resembled a drainage channel.
She explained: “They will be able to use their home electricity rate which is a lot cheaper than a public charge point especially with the special tariffs you can get overnight. The average time someone would need to charge their car is about once a week.”
Other pilots include a charge point within a metal kerb stone and others have been installed in a lamp post or in the actual footpath.
Earlier in the meeting, Cllr John McNicholas raised the matter of electric charging points taking up valuable parking spaces, adding: “There are three or four spaces that I have never seen used but it is fulfilling your criteria for provision. There will be other examples of unnecessary provision because the emphasis should be home charging.”
But John Seddon, the council’s strategic lead for policy and innovation, said: “The decision at the start of the programme was to install the charging equipment at the roadside but not put the associated parking restrictions on which would restrict those parking spaces to electric vehicles. So there should be no difference to the parking capacity.
“We are coming under pressure from some people to change that because we are getting situations where EV car users cannot use the charge points because other people are parking in it. The only areas where we have done that is at the rapid chargers in city centre or district centre locations – about 100 parking bays where we have had significant evidence where people have been unable to use them because they have been blocked with other vehicles.
“Where we have put restrictions on is where there are three or four charging points and the restriction is only going on one of them. The majority of the chargers that are not in car parks or rapid chargers have no parking order so anyone can park there.”