The UK government has published guidance for local authorities seeking to develop policies to allow electric vehicle (EV) drivers to install cross-pavement charging solutions.
Currently, EV drivers who do not have access to a driveway have limited options to charge their vehicles at home. As such, many face the choice between either only using public chargepoints, which data from Zapmap has found is significantly more expensive than charging at home, or taking the dangerous and frequently illegal route of trailing their EV charger cable across the public pavement to charge their vehicle when parked in front of their home.
In response, cross-pavement charging solutions have emerged, with several local authorities undertaking trial installations of pavement-embedded cable channels from several suppliers. One such option sees cable channels dug into the pavement to sit flush with the surrounding paving, with the EV charger fed through the channel to the awaiting EV parked streetside.
Until recently, people seeking to install such a solution outside their homes faced a complex and relatively uncharted planning permission process, especially if they needed to dig through local authority-owned pavement. The new policy guidance published by the Department for Transport (DoT) and the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) seeks to provide clarity to local authorities dealing with planning applications for these installations and lay out important areas that must be considered in planning applications.
When developing policies, local authorities are being asked to consider the availability of parking adjacent to the applicant’s property, whether the local authority or the supplier should be responsible for installing and maintaining the solution, who is liable for the costs of installation and obtaining licenses and permissions, and suggested minimum standards for installed charging channels.
The need for cross-pavement charging solutions is clear: according to the most recent English Housing Survey, around eight million households in England—32% of homes—do not have access to off-street parking such as a driveway, garage, or residential carpark. However, four million households—16% of the nation—do have access to adequate on-street parking, a situation ideal for cross-pavement EV charging.
Recent statistics from EV charger mapping company Zapmap note the immense cost benefit to EV drivers who can charge at home compared to those who are forced to use public chargepoints. EV drivers without access to home charging spend over £1,000 more each year on charging than those who are able to charge from home; this fact can entirely wipe out the cost benefit of driving an EV over a petrol or diesel-powered vehicle for some drivers.
Speaking to Current± about his predictions for 2025, Ian Mach, CEO of Charge Gully, stated that this newly released guidance is vital to the future of the EV sector, adding that prior to the release of this policy advice, many local authorities were holding off on the implementation of cross-pavement charging solutions. The published advice means the firm now “anticipates a nationwide rollout” in 2025.
