Electric Vehicle Charge Points
Electrically powered vehicles have taken time to take hold but again like mobile phones the pace of development has suddenly increased after decades of development with the recent launch of many petrol-electric hybrids such as Mitsubishis PHEV off roader, Renaults Zoe and Vauxhalls Ampera. This increase in models now poses another needed development to leap forward and that is the installation and wide availability of EV (Electric Vehicle) charge points across the UK. This year the government under OLEV (Office for Low Emission Vehicles) begun a heavily subsidised campaign to increase the number of EV points installed at users homes. This incentive subsidises the EV charge point installation and equipment (to 75% but technically free) for those who prove ownership or regular use of* electric and petrol/electric hybrids. There are now over 7000 publically available charge points in the UK and thousands more in people’s homes and places of work such as at our head office here in Poundbury. Ours was installed by us under a local council initiative which was 50% funded and is available to clients and those in the area for a small fee per charge (£1-£3). We envisage that it won’t be long before hotel guests and retail customers will see a charge point as an essential pre-requisite along with the option of being able to book a slot to hook up at a specified time. Other businesses such as out of town shopping centres, restaurants, theme parks and holiday parks will also need to follow suit. Though there is of course an additional expense here for business it’s worth knowing that EV points for business owners can be written off under their Annual Investment Allowance**. All UK motorway service stations have rapid chargers which re-fuel a typical electric car to 80% in 30 minutes and lots of local councils and larger supermarkets have slow (8 hours to full) or fast chargers (4 hours to full) installed now too. Planning your route on long journeys is still of course essential if you have an electric only vehicle such as Nissans superb LEAF but it is possible to travel beyond the 100 mile range with good planning. If you are doing this often though a plug-in hybrid would make more sense. Most electric cars have the location of charge points noted on their satnavs but there are also other ways of finding EV charge points to plan your journey including websites such as Zap Map - https://www.zap-map.com/live/