Buckinghamshire Council seeks nominations on new EV charging point locations

Earlier this year, Buckinghamshire Council successfully bid for £1.9 million from the government's Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund (LEVI) to install hundreds of new publicly-accessible electric vehicle (EV) charging points across the county.

To ensure the council is choosing the most convenient and accessible locations across Buckinghamshire, it would like people to suggest where EV charging points are most needed by filling in a short survey.

The council's aim is to improve access to EV charging points in areas where most properties have no driveways. Consequently, the focus of the new project will be to install EV charging points on existing lampposts, which will provide a slow (<7kW) charge. These may also be mounted on bollards in locations where lampposts are not positioned next to the edge of the pavement. This will help existing EV owners to 'trickle charge' their cars during the day and overnight in more convenient locations.

The council will also be looking at installing a small amount of fast (22kW) charging points in their car parks across the county.

The survey will also help the council to understand general trends and patterns for EV charging provision in the county, including:

• High demand EV charging locations
• Type of vehicle ownership
• Willingness to switch to EVs, and
• Barriers to switching to EVs

Steven Broadbent, Buckinghamshire Council's Cabinet Member for Transport, said:

"We are delighted to have been awarded £1.9 million from the government to install new LEVI-funded EV charging points across the county. This will help us reach our ambitious target of 1,000 publicly-accessible EV charging points in Buckinghamshire by the end of 2027, as set out in our 5-year EV Action Plan (2022-2027).

"To ensure we are providing EV charging infrastructure in the best locations, we want to hear from both existing EV owners and anyone who may be interested in owning an EV in the future. Your views can help shape our decisions on where to locate the new LEVI-funded EV charging points – which we are planning to begin installing next year.

"Please submit your suggestions to us by 14 April 2024."

You can tell the council your views in one of the following ways:

• Complete the online survey
• Complete and return a printed version of the survey
• Email: evcharging@buckinghamshire.gov.uk
• Write to: Transport Strategy, Buckinghamshire Council, Walton Street Offices, Walton Street, Aylesbury, HP20 1UA

Remember to share your views by 11:59pm on Sunday 14 April 2024.

Responses to the survey will be analysed to identify key trends and patterns for EV charging demand in Buckinghamshire. An initial assessment will be undertaken on the postcode locations and sites will be prioritised based on the following criteria:

• Low levels of off-street parking
• Ease of parking next to lampposts in the area
• High usage potential

These priority locations will be taken forward to be surveyed and tested to check if the locations are suitable for EV charging.