Home » Swansea to test on-street EV charging for residents without driveways

Swansea to test on-street EV charging for residents without driveways

An EV charging point installed by Swansea Council which isn't connected up to the grid yet at Sketty Cross, Sketty (Pic: Richard Youle)

OWNERS of electric vehicles (EVs) in Swansea who don’t have a driveway to help charge them may be able to take part in an on-street trial.

Swansea Council has bid for funding to pilot on-street residential EV charging and will find out if it has been successful in the next couple of months.

More and more people are driving EVs but owners with driveways have far more opportunity to charge them than people on terraced streets.

A council scrutiny panel heard officers were liaising with Welsh councils which have trialled on-street charging via a cable from a person’s property across the pavement to their EV. Councillors also heard there were delays in connecting new charging points to the national grid.

Cllr Andrea Lewis, cabinet member for service transformation, said residents have been requesting an on-street charging trial, but she added “it will inevitably be quite complicated”.

She said this was down to planning, licensing and insurance considerations, and the fact householders didn’t have a right to park on the street directly outside their property.

She said if the trial went ahead, those taking part would need to assure the council they could park outside their property at least twice a week.

A council officer said subject to funding, expressions of interest would be sought from residents with EVs through an online survey.

A shortlist would then be created and discussions held prior to a trial potentially starting towards the end of 2025, using equipment from a company called Kerbo Charge.

A report before the climate change and nature scrutiny panel said only 10 properties would be selected.

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Cllr Lewis said the idea of a small-scale pilot was issues could be identified and solutions sought prior to a possible wider roll-out.

“We don’t anticipate we are going to get it right and it’s going to be perfect first time,” she said.

The UK Government plans to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030.

Last year, EVs made up 20% of new car registrations in the UK, up from 16.5% the year before.

But there are concerns about the cost of EVs and the availability of charging points – particularly for the millions of people in terraced houses.

Cllr Lewis said she charged her EV once or sometimes twice a week.

She said they were a lot cheaper to run than petrol and diesel ones, less polluting for the air, quieter, and that driver behaviour seemed to be better.

The scrutiny report said there were four main types of EV charging points – slow, fast, rapid and ultra rapid – which were installed by owners at home, by companies at car parks and service stations, and by councils. External grant funding was required for authorities to do this work.

Swansea Council has installed 106 EV charging points at 37 locations since 2020 – all powered by renewable electricity. People have charged their EVs at these sites more than 15,600 times.

The panel heard some newer council charging points, such as one outside The Square Peg Coffee House, Sketty, weren’t operational because of delays connecting them to the grid.

Councillors were also told there were delays in the supply of meter cabinets.

Cllr Mary Jones said a council charging point in Killay had stood idle for about seven months because of this.

“It’s so frustrating for people who look at them and think, ‘We can’t charge our car,’” she said.

Cllr Lewis said: “We share your frustration. It’s something outside our control.”

The meeting was also reminded the council and Welsh Government were looking into a potential trial of hydrogen-powered buses in Swansea.

Part of the problem for hydrogen transport, said Cllr Lewis, was cost. Hydrogen-powered refuse lorries, she said, were three to four times as expensive as conventional ones.

Geoff Bacon, head of property services, said hydrogen for transport was an immature market and very expensive.

He said: “No-one really knows how much a kilogram, or however they measure it, of hydrogen should actually cost.”

But he added once the market grew, prices would come down.

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