Ambitious plans to triple the number of on-street electric vehicle charging points in Portsmouth
Portsmouth has announced plans to more than triple the number of on-street electric vehicle charging points over the next three years, with more to follow and additional rapid chargers to be installed.
Portsmouth City Council has secured over £4m to prepare for the increasing demand for electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, as more residents choose environmentally friendly vehicles. These efforts include the introduction of rental e-bikes and e-scooters across Portsmouth, and 62 brand-new, zero-emission electric buses launched in March – the first of their kind in the region.
While many EV owners prefer charging at home, off-street parking is not always available in the city’s streets and by installing more on-street chargers, the council aims to make EV ownership more accessible to all residents. The council said it is also currently in discussions with operators who are tendering to install up to 320 new on-street chargepoints, expected to be operational by spring next year.
With the announcement coinciding with World EV Day on September 9, Councillor Peter Candlish, cabinet member for transport said: “We know that the number of people choosing electric vehicles is increasing in the city, so this is a vital boost to help people make the change to EVs, following the recent issues with on-street chargers in the city over the past year.
“This World EV Day, we are pleased to announce a step towards a greener future with plans to triple the amount of on-street chargepoints for residents, and expand the number of rapid chargers available for taxis and private hire vehicles in Portsmouth. We’re committed to making sustainable travel accessible for all, from electric vehicles to buses, rental e-scooters, and e-bikes, creating a cleaner, healthier city for everyone.”
Three new rapid chargers are now available in All Saints car park on Church Street, PO1 4NB. These allow EV drivers to recharge quickly, and one space is the first in the city to be large enough for blue badge holders or those with larger vehicles.
The council also plans to ‘re-energise’ more than 20 existing EV chargepoints over the next six weeks, in collaboration with chargepoint operators and Scottish and Southern Energy Networks (SSEN), ensuring all safety concerns are addressed. This comes after nearly 100 on-street electric vehicle (EV) charging points in Portsmouth were disconnected last year due to safety concerns, with them slowly coming back online throughout this year.
EV drivers can keep up to date with public chargepoint locations and sign up for the council’s EV newsletter at www.portsmouth.gov.uk/ev-chargepoints.
On top of the EV points in Portsmouth as many as 8,500 new electric vehicle charging points could be created in the next five years across other parts of Hampshire thanks to central government money.
Hampshire County Council has agreed to enter the final stage of the Department of Transport (DfT) application to receive £6,662,000 over five years to create local electric vehicle infrastructure (LEVI).
The grant is intended to provide on-street electric vehicle charging infrastructure (EVCI) and, therefore, support Hampshire residents without off-street parking in switching to electric vehicles. Once allocated, the county council will start developing a plan to install electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
The plan will focus on postcodes where households do not have off-street parking and where infrastructure is anticipated to be required as a priority to support Hampshire residents’ switch to electric vehicles.