More electric car charging points could be installed in Portsmouth

MORE charging points for electric cars could be installed in the city in a bid to improve air quality.
Driving instructor Colin Martin charging up his electric car in Adair Road, Southsea, which was the first residential street to have a charging point last year. Picture: Sarah Standing (080319-1465)Driving instructor Colin Martin charging up his electric car in Adair Road, Southsea, which was the first residential street to have a charging point last year. Picture: Sarah Standing (080319-1465)
Driving instructor Colin Martin charging up his electric car in Adair Road, Southsea, which was the first residential street to have a charging point last year. Picture: Sarah Standing (080319-1465)

Portsmouth City Council is looking to extend its trial of three charging points in city car parks for another year to gather more data, which will then shape where new points could be.

A further 79 on-street points could also be installed after funding was awarded by the government, adding to 36 that were put in last year.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The council's traffic boss, Councillor Lynne Stagg, said was important to develop infrastructure for green vehicles after data showed the number of electric cars in Portsmouth had increased to from 1,033 in 2015 to 2,025 in 2019.

Read More
First on-street electric car charging point installed in Portsmouth

She said: 'It is very promising that the number of electric cars in the city is going up, of course as time goes on the cars will get cheaper.

'This data is important because we need to know how often they're being used and what times they are being used. This will help us see where points could be needed in the future.

'But we do have to think about where that electricity is coming from and make sure it is from green energy because if loads of people have electric cars our electricity use is going to go up a lot.'

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The charging points used for gathering data can be found in the Seafront Esplanade car park, Isambard Brunel Multi-Storey car park and the Clarence Pier car park.

They showed that from March 2018 to the end of September 2019, a total of 965 charges took place.

Southsea resident Colin Martin, 59, uses an electric car every day as part of this job as a driving instructor. He welcomed the idea of more charging points in the city. 'The on-street charging points have worked so well for me,' he said.

'It just means I can own an electric vehicle because there was no way I could've done without them.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

'The way things are going people are going to have to switch eventually. Car manufacturers are winding down production on petrol and diesel cars.

'My monthly electricity bill for the car is £50 and I do around 25,000 miles a year.'

A decision on the extension of the car park charging points will be made at a meeting on Thursday, January 23.