Electric car charging coming to a station near you

[whole diary]

[bobm]

From the Wiltshire Times

Electrifying news for Bradford on Avon rail station

Shay Parsons of Climate Friendly Bradford on Avon with, from left, Kevin Sharpe of Zero Carbon World, Cllr Horace Prickett and Cllr Richard Gamble at the car charging point in Bradford station car park Photo: Glenn Phillips (49157)

Bradford on Avon is continuing its quest to reduce its carbon footprint after two more electric car charging points were installed in the station car park.
 
Wiltshire Council received funding of ^180,000 by the Office of Low Emission Vehicles to install the points. More will follow at Chippen- ham, Trowbridge and Westbury stations.
 
The points take three to four hours to charge most vehicles to 80 per cent. Charging is free for an initial introductory period before it becomes a chip and pin or pay-as-you-go service.
 
Shay Parsons, director of Climate Friendly Bradford on Avon, said: ^It puts Bradford on Avon on the map in terms of where electric drivers will stop.
 
See www.openchargemap.org

[Chris from Nailsea]

From South West Business:

Six new rapid charge points for electric vehicles to be installed in Wiltshire

Six new rapid charge points for electric vehicles are to be installed following Wiltshire Council^s successful bid for government funding.

The council received a ^225,000 grant from the Office of Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) which will pay for rapid charging points in Melksham, Trowbridge, Corsham, Chippenham, Warminster and Salisbury,

They will be positioned close to major routes for mid-journey top ups and be near businesses such as coffee shops and newsagents to accommodate drivers during the 20 to 30-minute recharge.

The council has recently installed a twin, fast-charging unit in Bradford on Avon Station Car Park and adding twin charging points at Chippenham, Trowbridge and Westbury railway stations in partnership with First Great Western.

The rapid charge points are part of the Local Sustainable Transport Fund project which will eventually link a network of charging points across Wiltshire and will feed into the national network.

John Thomson, cabinet member for transport, said: ^The council is working hard to reduce its CO2 emissions and its impact on climate change. We are committed to helping people travel in a more sustainable way and are always exploring new ways to reduce transport-related emissions across Wiltshire.^

The council will also be putting charging points into its office car parks and campuses.

To discover the location of charging points around the country visit http://openchargemap.org/site/ to find out more.

Information about low emission vehicles including electric vehicles and charging can be found at www.gov.uk/office-for-low-emission-vehicles and www.goultralow.com

[broadgage]

The picture in post 15 would appear to be a fast charging point and NOT the simple weather resistant 13 amp socket on a post that I was expecting.

Such equipment has the merit of fast charging, but may not be compatible with all electric vehicles as requirements and connectors differ.
Virtualy all electric vehicles are also equiped also for slow charging from a standard domestic socket, this being required for charging at the typical home or business not fitted with fast charge facilities.

Installation of fast charging facilities can be expensive because the existing electrical suppply to the premises may not be adeqaute. Arranging for an increased supply takes time and money.

[ChrisB]

There's two at Banbury - and usage stats show that its been used *once* since installation nearly a year ago....

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

I looked at http://openchargemap.org/site/ to see what recharging points there are in west oxon. It looked like zero to me, not that if I had an battery electic car that i would be likely to need to use a point in West Oxon as I would recharge at home. I just wonder if this sort of deficiency is very wide spread. There seems to be plenty of recharging points in and around oxford but go west and you might get stranded so no battery powerr for me just yet.