Minutes:
“With the continuing lack of an EV charging strategy from National Government it is incumbent on local councils to make the best choices when installing public charging points.
Given that research published by CENEX in Jan 2018 for the Committee on Climate Change states that:
a) Of the fast and standard [EV] chargers required 55% of chargers need to be fast (22kW) and 16% standard (7kW), to enable drivers stopping for varying amounts of time to top up.
b) a 5-fold increase in fast chargers is needed compared to a 2-fold increase in standard chargers.
c) The number of public chargers needed for ‘top-up charging’ during parking based charging around towns and local areas needs to rise from 2,700 in 2016 to over 27,000 by 2030.
Yet the council are continuing to install EV charging points at only standard (7KW) charging rates instead of fast (22Kw).
I have been assured that at least some of the recently installed points can be upgraded to 22Kw or at least 22Kw per post (2 cars) so why is this not being done?
Are plans being made with UKPN (UK power networks) to supply the majority of future charging points at fast (22KW) rates?”
Answer
The Leader asked Councillor D.Bell (Executive Member, Resources), to answer:-
“Thank you for your question, Councillor Quinton.
The implementation of electric vehicle charging points in the Borough is part of a nationwide strategy to reduce emissions and meet the net zero target by 2050. It acknowledges that for the scheme to be effective, different types of chargers will need to be introduced at locations across the UK.
As members will be aware, the Council received over £100k of funding from the Office of Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) earlier this year. This provided 90% of the funding to install 16 EV charging points in the borough, the remaining 10% being funded by the Council. The funding was intended to allow local authorities to introduce residential EV charging points at locations where residents would otherwise be unable to charge their vehicles overnight, rather than shoppers requiring faster charging. We understand that OLEV considers 7KW units to be sufficient for most applications of this type.
At the six locations within the Borough that have benefited from OLEV funding, the currently grid capacity on the grid would not support anything like as many fast 22KW chargers. Adding grid capacity, both for EV charging points and other demands, is a more complex matter than simply working with UK Power Networks, even if this were within the remit of the Council. A September 2021 report by Ofgem set out Ofgem’s role in ensuring that energy networks can meet future demands in the context of the transition to electric vehicles, something that will have to be managed nationally.
But in the meantime it is important that the Council works with an approach that enables us to secure OLEV funding. If we did not, the result would be that our council taxpayers, the majority of whom cannot afford electric vehicles, would end up subsidising those that can afford them. This is surely inequitable.
The Council is fulfilling an important enabling role with these recent EV charging points, but I do not think that local authorities should be the primary providers of vehicle refuelling infrastructure, be it electric or internal combustion. The existing infrastructure of filling stations is not provided by local authorities, and so I do not believe that we should assume that the infrastructure to support electric vehicles should be primarily our responsibility either.”
(Note: Apologies were received from Councillor Quinton, so the question was read out by an officer).