Portsmouth to trial three new electric vehicle charging points in green push for city

More charging points for electric cars are coming to Portsmouth

With the car industry pushing towards a focus on electric vehicle manufacture in the near future, Portsmouth City Council is to trial the charging points across the city.

They will be in Clarence Esplanade, Southsea, Isambard Brunel multi-storey car park in the city centre and at The Harbour car park in Portsea.

The points will be in place for a two-year period.

Councillor Simon Bosher, cabinet member for transport gave the trial the go ahead at a meeting yesterday.

He said: ‘This is an excellent starting point and there really is no downside to this.

‘I will be following the trial with great interest to see how it goes.

‘With the new lighting strategy put in place as well, this shows that the council is looking to put the infrastructure in place to challenge habits when it comes to vehicle usage.

‘This is a great opportunity for the city, now, let’s get on with it!’

A total of 74 cars registered in Portsmouth are electric, although the city is home to 6,870 hybrids.

Councils across the UK are under pressure to boost its electric car  infrastructure after this year saw the UK reach a 12-year high in electric vehicle purchases and car  manufacturer Volvo pledged to launch hybrid or electric cars from 2019 earlier this summer.

The council currently has only one publicly-accessible dual-charging point at the park-and-ride site in Tipner.

But, there are four privately-owned accessible points at the Marriott Hotel in North Harbour, the North Harbour Unit Trust, Craswell Street multi-storey car park in the city centre and at Gunwharf Quays.

The new charging points will be run by Portsmouth-based vehicle charge point supplier City EV, which approached the council.

For the trial period, drivers will not have to pay to  charge their car but will  have to pay for parking as normal.

Alan Cufley, the council’s transport director was unable to say what would be put in place to stop drivers leaving their vehicle in the charge point for the whole day while at work when questioned by Cllr Bosher.

The cost of providing the electricity supply to the locations is estimated to cost the council not more than £5,500 a year.