Ipswich Council has said it can no longer afford to offer free EV charging at its car parks and will therefore start charging EV drivers from January 2025.
The Council currently has 32 publicly accessible EV chargepoints located at its Crown, Elm Street and Upper Orwell Street car parks. Users of the chargepoints in these car parks only pay to park their vehicles, they do not currently pay to charge them. The council says the provision of this free EV charging is costing it c.£90k per year.
Discussing charging for electricity at EV chargepoints at the Executive Meeting, one councillor said EVs are driven by ‘better off’ people who could afford the charges.
The Council has also decided not to accept a £150,360 grant from the On-street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) to install an additional 14 chargepoints. In accepting the grant, it would have to match fund the £150k and it does not want to risk not being able to recoup its capital costs for the installation, plus there would also be ongoing operational and maintenance costs to consider.
It is understood that the Council will appoint a chargepoint network provider to evaluate solutions for replacing the existing chargers.
