Hampshire County Council is to launch an innovative 50 on-street electric vehicle (EV) charging point pilot after the local authority backed initiative received £125,000 of funding from the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) for the project.
As part of the council’s commitment to reduce carbon emissions across the county, the new electric vehicle charging points will be installed in Eastleigh and Winchester as part of a pilot scheme to be launched in March.
The pilot involves the installation of two different types of on-street EV charging points, which will see bollards in Eastleigh and streetlighting columns in Winchester.
Commenting, Hampshire County Council’s Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Economy, Transport and Environment, Councillor Rob Humby said: “As part of our commitment to become carbon neutral by 2050, and with a third of carbon emissions in Hampshire coming from transport, I’m keen that appropriate charging infrastructure is in place to encourage people to make the switch to electric vehicles where they can.
“This is why we are looking at innovative solutions, in this case how we can make it easier for people to charge their electric vehicles on the street if they do not live in a property with a private driveway by installing change points on streetlights and bollards.”
“Making the changes needed to reduce carbon emissions to tackle climate change means we have to try new initiatives to enable people to do things differently. With a national ban on the sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles coming into effect in 2030, this is the right time to run this trial, which we will monitor for effectiveness, with a view to rolling out further across the county, subject to funding.”
Eastleigh Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport, Councillor David Airey said, “The council is committed to tackling the climate emergency and we are pleased to support this exciting initiative to trial on-street electric charging that will help to reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality in Eastleigh.
“We will be supporting our residents through the process of these charging points being installed. The trial will be testing the effectiveness of on-street vehicle charging parking and will complement the rapid charging points that we are also installing across the borough.”
Winchester City Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate Emergency, Councillor Lynda Murphy added: “In order to help reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality, we are encouraging Winchester district residents to make the switch to electric vehicles, which have much less impact on the environment.
“We are delighted to support Hampshire County Council on this project, as it will complement the new electric vehicle charging network we are introducing across many of our car parks in Winchester and the market towns, and we are planning on expanding this network throughout the year by adding more electric vehicle charging points in our district.”
