Councillors demand answers over broken EV charge points in Portsmouth

At a recent Portsmouth City Council transport cabinet meeting, members discussed the ongoing issues with the city’s EV charging infrastructure.

Safety concerns led to disconnections

Councillor Peter Candlish, cabinet member for transport, explained that in September 2023, 98 chargepoints were disconnected following safety advice from Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN). At the time, these were operated by JoJu and ubitricity

Since then, 47 chargepoints have been reconnected, but councillors questioned why the process has taken so long.

Labour councillor Graham Heaney asked: “There seems to be an implication that each one has to be treated individually.”

Council officers explained that chargepoints vary in complexity, with the first 40 being an “easy fix".

Future of EV charging in Portsmouth

With the contracts for JoJu and Ubitricity coming to and end, a new company, Zest, has secured government funding to install up to 320 chargepoints in the city.

Cllr Candlish said Zest “may also choose to take over the existing chargepoints, but they can’t commit to doing that until they look under the hood – they may or may not take them on.

“If we are adding over 300 into the city versus the 47 that we have in operation, there is clearly going to be a denser spread of on-street charging points across the city.”

However, Conservative group leader Cllr Simon Bosher warned that if Zest installs new chargepoints near existing defunct ones, it could lead to delays due to the need for new Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs).

Criticism over lack of communication

Cllr Heaney criticised JoJu and Ubitricity for “hiding behind a wall of silence” while the chargepoints remained out of action, arguing that EV drivers in the city have been “severely disrupted.”

“They have not responded or said anything in public about what is going on,” he said. “Residents know that they’re not working, they don’t know why, they don’t know when it’s coming back.

“I think they have a responsibility, at the very least, to apologise for this situation – there’s been no word.

“I think it has been a disincentive for residents to use EVs.”

In response, an Ubitricity spokesperson said: “We have been in close contact with Portsmouth City Council to resolve the ongoing chargepoint issues. This has been a complex process, and our engineers have worked with SSEN to safely bring the charging network back online where possible.

“As the Portsmouth EV charging network is shortly being taken over by Zest, we are working together to ensure a smooth transition for local residents.”

SSEN Distribution also addressed the issue, stating: “We believe our current policy will allow for the safe reconnection of all remaining legacy chargepoints, subject to safety-related upgrades. Having previously discussed and agreed this with the council, we understand PCC is now working with their new EV contractor to progress this.”

Council remains committed to EV expansion

Cllr Candlish reaffirmed the council’s commitment to improving EV infrastructure despite the challenges.

“Ensuring people’s safety is of the utmost importance, and since safety concerns were raised in 2023, we have worked with all parties to safely re-energise EV chargepoints,” he said.

“This has been a complex process requiring detailed investigations by operators at each location, with half of the current chargepoints now re-energised.”

JoJu was approached for comment.