Fast EV charging points now available in public council car parks
Lifestyle / Fri 16th Jun 2023 at 07:36am
Fast EV charging points now available in public council car parks
New convenient electric vehicle (EV) charging points have been installed in Harlow Council-owned public car parks, at no cost to the Harlow taxpayer, in The Stow and Old Harlow with more coming soon.
The new fast chargers have been installed in existing parking bays within the Garden Terrace car park in Old Harlow, and the Minchen Road car park behind the Stow.
As part of the council’s commitment to sustainability and reducing carbon emissions, the charging points ensure that EV drivers have easy access to charging facilities, further encouraging the use of electric vehicles and contributing to a greener future. The availability of EV charging points in public car parks will help to promote the use of electric vehicles as a viable mode of sustainable transport.
These are the first points to be installed in Harlow Council run car parks and were installed thanks to the council securing £60,090 in government funding as part of the On-Street Residential ChargePoint Scheme (ORCS) and Harlow Council working with bp pulse who contributed the remaining 40% of the project cost as part of the ORCS funding.
Users can park in one of the bays, pay for their parking as normal and then pay to use a charging point on either a pay-as-you-go tariff or through a bp pulse subscription.
Councillor Nicky Purse, cabinet portfolio holder for sustainability and environment, said:
“I am delighted to introduce these EV charging points to these very well-used car parks in our town. With more and more electric vehicles appearing on our roads, we need to make sure there is public provision for drivers to be able to charge them on the go.
“These public charging points have primarily been installed for residents who live or visit the Old Harlow and Stow areas that do not have access to private off-street charging facilities. While the car parks are pay and display from 8am-5pm it is free to park overnight, which would make this a cost-effective option.
“This marks a significant step towards reducing Harlow’s carbon footprint and promoting sustainable transport options in the town. With more public EV charging points in the pipeline, we are aiming to improve air quality and contribute to a greener, cleaner environment for everyone.”
Details on charging and tariff information can be found at www.bppulse.co.uk/help-centre/charging/faq/ev-charging-on-the-go
Can you afford an electric car to use them
2023-06-16 07:42:52
No
Alan Leverett
2023-06-16 07:58:03
It good the Council are putting in charging facilities but are these the correct type for carparks. Are electric vehicles owners going to leave their vehicles for 6 to 8 hours? Are they going to be charged for parking? The better chargers which are correctly called fast are those in South Mims Services. They fully charge in about 15minutes whilst having a coffee.
HarlowBoy
2023-06-16 08:08:06
Ha! Quality parking of that van! not in the bay!
Adam
2023-06-16 08:26:22
I do not know any one who once they got an electric car, kept it most got rid as soon as they could. Unless your an eco zealot who does not understand the true costs of electric cars they are utterly pointless and designed to do one thing only prevent people from having freedom of movement
Chris
2023-06-16 09:02:51
Great to see. These chargers are not fast but will charge a car in 3 or 4 hours (so 50-100 miles per hour charged). They will be a good solution for people without driveways that can leave the car there overnight charging without needing to pay for parking. I have driven electric cars as my main car for 10 years (with a petrol estate for long family trips) but try and cycle if I'm getting around in Harlow, especially in this weather. I am not an eco zealot and understand that electric car production is not without harm (and rely on renewable electricity production, so we have a renewable tarrif) but an electric car is a better solution than bringing a new fossil-fuelled car into the world and are affordable if leased. At the end of the day, we do not have a god-given right to move freely around unless that is we are walking or cycling. All forms of powered transport have environmental impacts on the planet and society.
S
2023-06-16 10:07:43
I’m not a fan of electric cars however if it’s what people want fair enough. However when I went to the doctors at old Harlow yesterday every ‘normal’ parking space was taken and only one car was parked in the electric bay. I ended up having to park in the residential area which I don’t like to do. The car park isn’t big enough for sectioning it off for certain types of vehicles and the impact is just going to upset the local residents. I’m sure this is not the only car park that will have this effect. Apologies to the person whose house I parked near and I feel for you and your neighbours. Hope it is resolved soon for you.
Alderman Durcan
2023-06-16 11:56:56
Please to note after 2 years of broken promises they have finally managed to achieve this. We now need an urgent roll out programme to keep increasing these facilities. Will this take another 2 years..
Steve Crewe
2023-06-16 12:06:09
In a few years,we will need 1000s. People who don't have parking, flats etc. How will they park and charge?
AuntyBoo
2023-06-16 13:18:39
Nobody talks about the cost of charging an EV as opposed to a Petrol run car. I know the cost of filling up my petrol car but what are the costs of a full charge for an EV? Plus, my with my petrol car it takes 10 minutes at the most to fill up and go. How long do you have to wait for the EV to fully charge. This a genuine question.
Nicholas Taylor
2023-06-16 13:22:37
In the meantime Epping Forest DC are installing 50 electric changing points in it's new multi storey car park, Stevenage have just opened a car park with 30 spaces and there are over 40 in a car park in Welwyn Garden City. Our town will need hundreds of charging points within the next few years, proving 40 or 50 in the Harvey Centre car park would be a good start.
Gino
2023-06-16 14:24:51
Unfortunately people will get duped and buy a mid range EV. 7.4 KW chargers are ac chargers and example if your battery is at 28% and you charge it to 100% on this charger your looking at 6 hours. The same battery state using a 50kw DC fast charger will take 1 hour and 34 minutes. We had a family trip booked the destination was 4.5 hours and return was 4.5 hours . For that total weekends trip we waisted 5 hours and 40 minutes just on charging and waiting. People unless you have a few bob spare and you can afford a 350mile range EV my advise is keep your diesel engine car.
Guy Flegman
2023-06-16 16:54:29
Electric cars weigh double the weight of petrol/diesel vehicles, therefore require twice the energy to move them from A to B. Only 30% - 40% of electricity produced a year comes from renewables. So this means you are actually burning more fossil fuels to run an electric vehicle than a traditional vehicle. The only benefit you get is you are moving your polution from the town to the countryside where the electricity is produced. This is without mentioning the electric vehicle has a very much larger carbon footprint to produce it. Also most of the battery materials come from slave labour. Also worth noting that if you have a coal/gas powered power station, you only need to tick a box on a form to say you could run your power station on biomass and hey presto you are part of the green energy production team. Also worth noting there are hundreds of acres of land up and down the country filled with diesel electric generators( one of the worst ways to produce electricity) that get turned on when the wind does not blow. The more you research into this stuff the more you realise that the whole thing is just about generating money for someone and nothing else. If you want to save the planet simply consume less it’s that simple. Every gov initiative in this sees a net increase in consumption, yet we fall for it every time.
Terry Kirkby
2023-06-17 19:37:50
Sadly its all a con for the money people! Facts are the percentage of CO2 in the atmosphere is 0.34 of 1% so no matter how many cars you remove from the road it will make no difference to the CO2 in the atmosphere. The costs involved in producing the batteries for electric cars is far greater than the cost of fossil fuels! Each Charging bay in the car parks will remove a parking bay for general cars so more issues parking! unless of course you have an electric car! This whole Global warming is pie in the sky im afraid and as for the ULEZ its all about money!!!!!!!!!!!!
David Forman
2023-06-18 15:16:25
They are only installing 7KW chargers, which any domestic dwelling with the appropriate service connection could install. See YouTube video that explains: https://youtu.be/bjwd-xHU9MI
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