The government has issued guidance to help local authorities in England to develop policies for cross-pavement EV charging solutions.
Statistics from the English Housing Survey estimate that approximately eight million households (32%) in England do not have access to off-street parking, such as a drive, garage or residential car park.
However, almost four million households (16%) have access to ‘adequate on-street parking’, defined in the EHS as ‘street parking generally being available outside or adjacent to the house or block of flats where the surveyed flat is located, and the road is sufficiently wide to allow easy passage of traffic’. These households could potentially benefit from domestic EV charging safely with the installation of cross-pavement solutions.
The new government guidance includes information on the areas, regulations and processes to consider when forming a cross-pavement charging policy.
However, it says the decision to allow the installation of a cross-pavement solution in the public highway rests with the relevant local authority.
The government says the cross-pavement charging solutions market is at an early stage, however, a variety of solutions have been trialled by local authorities which have shared the processes they adopted and learning points within this new guidance.
One example is Milton Keynes City Council which developed a service for EV cable channels using a specific solution supplier.
The resident pays for the initial survey fee and, if satisfied, the highways team grants permission to install. The resident then pays for a highways-approved contractor to install the channel.
The highways team retains maintenance liability for the cable channel, but the resident is responsible for the chargepoint and cable.
After an initial three-year maintenance period, the homeowner (whether new or existing) may extend permission for the cable channel for an annual fee. This covers the continued insurance indemnity, routine inspections, any required maintenance and administrative costs. If the permission is not extended after the three-year period, or annually thereafter, the council may remove the channel and reinstate the footway surface.
