- Richmond Council in South West London has launched a permanent cross-pavement EV charging scheme to give more residents the ability to charge up at home, following a successful trial programme.
- The scheme will encourage further EV adoption, allowing more drivers to benefit from domestic charging rates which can be over 10x more affordable than the electricity rates of public charging infrastructure.
- The Borough of Richmond upon Thames joins an increasing number of areas in the UK benefitting from cross-pavement charging, either in trial phases or as a permanent option available.
Richmond Council to offer cross-pavement charging options to residents
Richmond Council has partnered with Kerbo Charge to provide residents with the necessary hardware to implement a pavement charging solution, with residents able to submit an application here.
According to data from NimbleFins, approximately 75,000 cars are registered in the Borough of Richmond upon Thames (as of Q3 of 2023). With an increasing proportion of those being fully-electric models as the entire UK car parc pivots towards electric vehicles, ensuring the right charging infrastructure is in place to support a widespread switch is crucial. Much like the rest of London, off-street private parking is in short supply, previously leaving those without a driveway relying on typically more expensive public charging infrastructure. With energy companies now offering off-peak charging rates as low as 5p per kWh, a compact EV such as the Renault 5 can be fully-charged for as little as £2 – indicating remarkably low costs of ownership for EV drivers.
The move to make pavement charging a permanent option available to residents further boosts Richmond’s charging ecosystem as a whole. Last year, the council installed 210 lamppost-based chargers, bringing the total number of public charge points available in the borough up to 1,152.
With the government recently announcing a £25 million package to support cross-pavement charging, it’s a solution we’re likely to see become ever more common across local authorities – particularly in areas with a low proportion of private off-street parking.
Councillor Alexander Ehmann, Chair of Richmond Council’s Transport and Air Quality Services Committee, commented:
“One of the biggest barriers to EV adoption is the challenge of charging at home for those without off-street parking. This scheme widens the opportunity for residents to make the switch to an electric car – with access to a price-competitive home electricity supply.
Richmond Council is among the first local authorities in the UK to make this type of home charging solution available to residents.”
