Guide to: EV Charging Points - Local authorities
EV Charging Points – Local authorities
How to electrify your local community
As a local authority, you may already have public chargepoints in your community, and you’re sure to be installing more. However, given the anticipated huge growth in demand for electric vehicles, encouraging community charging is an additional way to quickly increase your resident’s access to chargers – and at very low cost.
What is community charging?
- Community charging enables a significant increase in scale of charging options with local home or business owners making their charging points available for use by members of the public
- Currently, there are around 25,000 public chargers in the UK, in comparison, it’s estimated there are almost 200,000 chargers installed at homes and businesses.
Why encourage community sharing?
Encouraging local EV owners to share their chargepoints is a cost-free way to increase the availability of chargers
- Around one third of households don’t have off-street parking, so community solutions can help these EV owners to charge
- Community charging is financially beneficial for homeowners as they can charge a fee to those who use their chargepoint. This can help to cover the cost of electricity and can contribute towards installation and maintenance costs
How to get started
Bookmycharge enables individuals and businesses to share and manage their charging points (it is often referred to as ‘Airbnb for charging’). Via its app and website, Bookmycharge makes chargers discoverable to an active community plus helps to facilitate bookings and payments.
How can we encourage people to share?
To encourage your community to start chargepoint sharing you will need to make them aware of the scheme and its benefits. You can do this in several ways, such as:
- Via your social media channels
- Through local newsletters and councillor networks
- At local meetings and events
- Encouraging EV owners and businesses directly
- Contacting local EV car clubs
