The roll out of cross-pavement electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure is becoming something of a “postcode lottery”, with local authorities taking very different approaches, a newspaper has reported.
The Guardian newspaper said that, while the government is keen to expand residential EV charging, “millions of UK households may be unable to use the simple technology because their local councils will still not allow charging cables to cross the pavement”.
ILP members have expressed concern that the rapid roll out of this infrastructure is turning into something of an electrical safety ‘Wild West’.
The ILP’s Local Authority Committee is also working to carry out research into the safety of cross-pavement domestic EV charging solutions.
The Guardian article, which leans heavily on the views of gully-making providers, highlighted a range of barriers to implementation cited by councils.
These include concerns around who will maintain them, who is liable if someone trips over a gully and hurts themselves, as well as challenges over guaranteeing a parking spot directly outside the driver’s home.
The newspaper cited Kent County Council as being “concerned about electric shock risk if cables were damaged”.
Worcestershire County Council, it argued, did not “permit the breaking or any damage to the highway to install an EV charger connection”, although it would allow cable protector ramps across the pavement.
Ealing Council in west London also cited “accessibility and safety concerns”, adding that it was focusing on installing public chargers in lighting columns.
Hackney Council in central London told the newspaper it wanted to keep chargers off pavements and increase its public charger rollout.
“They all have their different processes,” Adam Dolphin, director of gully maker Gul-e, told the newspaper. “I wouldn’t say they’re an intentional barrier. They’re just working through the process, how it works.”
Image: an image from Lighting Journal’s coverage of this issue last autumn
