Agenda item

Summary:                         This report identifies an opportunity for the Council to install Electric Vehicle Chargepoints (EVCs) in Council owned car parks, as part of its Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability agenda.

These will help provide the infrastructure necessary to encourage and enable uptake of Electric Vehicles (EVs) and will benefit both local residents who do not have off street parking and therefore, domestic EV charging options, as well as normal car park users. Such provision also helps support our market towns’ economies, by extending dwell times for customers and visitors.

The Government’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) is accepting applications for grant funding of up to 75% of the capital full cost of installation of EVCs by local authorities to provide the necessary infrastructure to help the growth of Electric Vehicle (EV) ownership.

Six public car parks across the district are proposed for this project, which could be commenced immediately. In addition, the Council Offices car park at Cromer is also considered, but under a grant different funding scheme.

Conclusions:                      The number of EVs in the UK is predicted to grow very significantly in coming years with a gradual move away from fossil fuels. This gives rise to a need for EVCs and there is little doubt that councils will be expected to provide them on public car parks as part of the enabling infrastructure for low emissionvehicles.  At this point, the government needs early development of infrastructure, hence the grant scheme being provided.

Whilst there are financial risks associated with such an installation now, mainly around forecasting numbers of EVs and therefore potential usage hours, especially in the early years of operation, the opportunity to obtain funding from central government significantly improves the financial viability and partly mitigates the risks associated with installing the technology.

Recommendations:    1.Cabinet approves an EVC installation project at six Council-owned public car parks across the District, along with the Cromer office car park, with the work being phased if required to enable the maximum grant funding from government.

2.   Cabinet recommends to Full Council the approval of a capital budget of £248,600 to fund the EVC installation project as described in the report. This to be funded from capital reserves and OLEV grant from Government as described in the report.

3.    That, assuming this budget is approved, officers are authorised to:

a)    appoint Inspired Renewables on the basis of their experience and involvement to date, to undertake further work to finalise the necessary applications to OLEV, seeking the available grantfunding, at a cost of £5,000

b)    procure the necessary ground works, cabling and installation of theEVCs

c)  procure a contract with a back office payment services provider for the chargingmechanism

d)  bring forward any necessary changes to the Council’s Car Parking Order to allow for EVCspaces

Reasons:                      1.   Electric Vehicle Charging Points are an important component in encouraging the uptake of Electric Vehicles, with resulting positive environmentalbenefits.

2.    To provide the necessary budget for theproject.

3.   To provide the necessary arrangements for installation and customer use of the EVCs onceinstalled.