Whatever happened to Harlow Council plans for EV charging points?
Lifestyle / Sun 31st Jul 2022 at 09:37am
BACK in September, we published a report from Harlow Council which detailed plans for a number of EV charging points around the town.
It recommended that the council entered into a contract with BP Pulse for the supply of electric vehicle charge points in the following pay and display car parks:
· Town Park School Lane car park
· Garden Terrace Road, Old Harlow
· Minchin Road, The Stow
· Tawneys Road, Bush Fair
· Tilegate Road, Bush Fair
· The Stow service bays
Nearly a year later, we asked the Conservative-run Harlow Council whether any progress had been made.
Councillor Alastair Gunn, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Governance, said:
“We have successfully bid for Office of Zero Vehicle Emission (OZEV) funding to install electric vehicle (EV) charging points in two public pay and display car parks – Garden Terrace Road (Old Harlow) and Minchin Road (The Stow).
We now wait for negotiations to be completed with BP Pulse on the contract for these sites. Separately we have also successfully received funding via Homes England to part-fund the installation of 10 EV charging points in the new council house development at Bushey Croft.
Two of the EV charging points will be in a communal parking area for residents from nearby estates in Bush Fair to use. A further two EV charging points have been installed at the council house development at The Hill funded as part of the overall construction costs.
“Unfortunately, as part of the public car parking scheme four sites can no longer be funded through a cost-neutral approach using the OZEV funding route. We want to provide value for money for our Council taxpayers and for the cost of installing such charging points to be minimal. We recognise the need to significantly increase the availability of EV charging points as more Harlow residents go electric and are exploring alternative options for installing charge points in all our pay and display car parks. We will also continue to look at government funding schemes to support the provision of further EV charging points in our new housebuilding developments.
“I have established a cross-party steering group on parking that is meeting regularly to ensure a serious, long-term focus on issues around parking. Increased EV charging point provision across the town and more residential parking are both top priorities for the group and its work.”
Theman
2022-07-31 11:34:13
We do not have enough electricity to meet demand, so how do the authorities plan to find the electricity to charge vehicles. The gov passed a law stating that all future charging points must be smart chargers. This is apparently so they can turn them off during peak demand, and if you are plugged in they can take the charge from your vehicle. Also an important point. Electrical vehicles weigh twice the weight of petrol vehicles and therefore require twice the energy to move them and as only 30% comes from renewables, you are actually burning more fossil fuels than a petrol vehicle. Electrical vehicles will not make sense until they can reduce the weight and work out what to do with heavy metals in the batteries. Still it is worth a small percentage of people owning these Electric vehicles as it will fund the development that will eventually make them viable, just don’t kid your self you are saving the planet( yet).
novoman
2022-07-31 12:04:26
EVs are a dead end route. The mining and the reprocessing of the metals for batteries are high energy processes and very polluting. Hydrogen is the fuel of the future.
Steve
2022-07-31 16:52:38
The government don't want cars on the road in future, hence why you will be priced off the road and only the rich and wealthy will be able to afford, maintain and charge electric cars.
David Forman
2022-08-01 08:53:53
Novoman is right about the mining of lithium. Currently, almost all lithium mining occurs in Australia, Latin America, and China accounting for a combined 98 percent of production in 2020. How long before another lame eexcuse is given to start s war to grab the minerals?
Theman
2022-08-01 11:32:20
Don’t mention the child slave labour involved either. It’s not called “the digital slave trade” for nothing.
Simon
2022-09-14 08:21:41
Pathetic response from the council. Tesco provide ev charging in Harlow, why can’t the local authority manage it? Lots of talk, zero commitment. As for the naysayers comments here. Governments and car manufacturers are already committed to ev’s. They need to make it work for the people. Ev is happening, petrol and diesel are destructive and are going, accept and embrace it.
6 Comments for Whatever happened to Harlow Council plans for EV charging points?: