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In May East Cambs District Council finished installing what we hope are the first of many EV charge points in council owned car parks. In this blog post we look at how they are being received by local people and hope to promote them so more residents can be confident about switching to EV.
The 24 chargers were installed and are managed by the company Connected Kerb. Looking on https://www.zap-map.com/live/ the chargers have been very well received by local EV drivers and visitors to the district alike. The chargers at the paradise centre have been rated the highest with an average of four stars however there have been problems at Barton Road with reliability and regular issues with petrol and diesel cars parking in the bays preventing users from being able to charge their cars on arrival. In Soham there are particular issues with signage as the QR codes needed to activate the chargers are very small and low down which can be difficult for people, particularly new EV drivers or people with accessibility issues to use. If the issues with signage and making it clear that these bays are for plugin electric vehicles can be fixed these chargers would likely prove to be even more popular with local and visiting EV drivers and be a valuable resource to the local community.
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The charging network around Ely and Soham is growing with three rapid chargers in Ely as well as a growing number of 7kw chargers for people to charge while shopping in the city or for use by local residents. In Soham, the new connected kerb chargers are a major boost for EV owners there as they are the first public chargers in the town. Nationally, the rate of chargers installations is always increasing with nearly 50 thousand chargers now installed across the UK. As of the end of September 2023, there are now around 900,000 fully electric cars on UK roads and a further 550,000 plug-in hybrids and this number is increasing all the time. While many people can charge from home it is important that the council continues to expand facilities for people to charge their vehicles for those who don’t have a driveway or who are visiting the area. The 24 chargers are already proving to be popular and we hope some of the issues raised here can be addressed.
Do you want to know more about what it’s like to own an Electric Car or EBike? If so, come along to our January Ely Earth Cafe on the 21st of January 6:30pm in Prosper Cafe where the theme will be “Ask an EV Owner”. Sign up on eventbrite or check out events page for updates: eastcambscan.org/events
