|
Electric Vehicle Charge Point Update |
||||
|
Date of Meeting: |
21 September 2021 |
|||
|
Report of: |
Executive Director Economy, Environment & Culture |
|||
|
Contact Officer: |
Name: |
Paul Nicholls |
Tel: |
01273 293287 |
|
|
Email: |
paul.nicholls@brighton-hove.gov.uk |
||
|
Ward(s) affected: |
All |
|||
FOR GENERAL RELEASE
1. PURPOSE OF REPORT AND POLICY CONTEXT
1.1 To update Committee on progress in expanding the electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the city, and a successful new bid for funding. The report also responds to the deputation received by Electric Brighton CarShare Ltd requesting permission to set up a local not for profit electric car club. It proposes that officers work to identify parcels of land close to the A27 trunk road suitable as a long-term investment opportunity for a rapid charging station.
2. RECOMMENDATIONS:
2.2 That Committee notes the successful bid for Innovate UK funding to create model bookable disabled bay charge points and bookable public charging for fleet vehicles where the driver has no off-street parking.
2.3 That Committee agrees to allocate eight car club bays at the four locations identified in this report for use by Electric Brighton CarShare Ltd, subject to the consideration of any objections to the Traffic Regulation Order.
2.4 That Committee agrees to re-allocate the car club bay in Ewart Street from Enterprise Rent-A-Car to Electric Brighton CarShare Ltd.
2.5 That Committee requests that officers work with UK Power Networks to identify a parcel or parcels of land close to the A27 trunk road suitable for inviting commercial investment in a rapid or ultra-rapid charging station under a minimum 15-year lease and other terms agreed with Property & Design.
2.6 That Committee notes that where possible new charge points installations will be placed on the carriageway to avoid pavement clutter.
3. CONTEXT/ BACKGROUND INFORMATION
3.1 On 7th July 2015, the Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee authorised officers to work with partners and stakeholders to identify and pursue opportunities to install equipment and bid for external funding to support the upgrade and expansion of Ultra-Low Emission Vehicle technology and infrastructure within the city
3.2 Since then, the council has submitted a series of successful bids for funding from the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) and Innovate UK. Following a tender process, in October 2019 the council appointed a charge point operator (EB Charging) through a concession contract to provide the remaining 25% funding, install and operate the charging network in return for a fee for the 100% renewable electricity used.
· Lamp post chargers - for overnight charging, which require around 12 hours to fully charge a vehicle from empty
· Fast chargers– for a full charge within 4-5 hours
· Rapid chargers– for a full charge within 30 minutes
3.3 Delivery of these projects is almost complete with 200 lamp post chargers, 29 fast chargers and 3 on street rapid charging hubs installed and operational. There has been a delay in starting work on the rapid charging hub with solar canopy at Brighton Racecourse. This has been due to the ongoing use of the site as a vaccination hub. We are working with Brighton Racecourse and the NHS to agree a date in the Autumn 2021 to enable these works to start.
3.5 A recent successful joint bid for Innovate UK research funding has been submitted by our charge point operator ‘EB Charging’ as lead partner, who will receive £283,753 Disabled Motoring UK will receive £29,898 and Brighton & Hove City Council will receive £32,058. The project aims to engage with national and local disabled drivers to understand the barriers they face when charging electric vehicles and create model accessible disabled bay charge points that can be booked. The other strand of the project is to create a booking system for electric vehicles used by the Housing Repairs Service, for drivers who can’t charge the vehicles at home. The project started in August 2021 and is due to complete in March 2022.
3.6 In January 2021 ETS Committee received a deputation from the Electric Brighton CarShare Ltd requesting permission to set up an electric vehicle, not for profit car sharing club. Following resident surveys carried out by Electric Brighton CarShare Ltd into demand for a car sharing service 8 bays have been proposed at 4 locations. Two of these are in Ewart Street at either end of the street, one is in Portland Road and the other is in Southdown Avenue, near London Road Station.
3.7 One of the proposed Electric Brighton CarShare Ltd locations is in Ewart Street and is currently allocated to Enterprise Rent-A-Car. This bay was however left empty for over a year by Enterprise-Rent-A-Car due to reduced demand during the pandemic. Electric Brighton CarShare Ltd had requested that the bay be reallocated to them early this year when the bays were empty. Although the car was recently re-instated at this location by Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Enterprise Rent-A-Car has other empty car club bays where the vehicle could be relocated to instead. It would also be more aligned with the Council’s carbon neutral ambitions for the car club bay to serve an electric rather than conventional car club vehicle.
3.8 The Council has received requests from charge point operators for land close to the A27 trunk road suitable for long term investment in a rapid or ultra-rapid charging station. The cost of connection to the grid for a high-power consumption site can vary considerably, so working with UK Power Networks to identify sites with reasonable connection costs could encourage commercial investment in a charging station. By working with colleagues in the Property, Planning and Transport Planning teams it is hoped that shortlisted sites can also be aligned with the Council’s strategic objectives.
3.9 If a suitable site can be found the Council could invite companies to bid for the opportunity to build, maintain and operate the charging station. Requirements such as including accessible charge points could be included in any subsequent tender.
3.10 Predicting the absolute number of electric vehicle chargers that will be needed in the future is complex due to rapidly changing vehicle and charging technologies, economic factors such as visitor numbers and dependence on driver behaviour change means there is a great deal of uncertainty. Our current focus is on removing barriers to owning an electric vehicle in areas of the city with no off-street parking. This report also aims to encourage long term private investment in chargers at suitable locations.
3.11 When responding to requests for charge points officers will aim to reduce pavement clutter as far as possible. In some circumstances it may however not be possible to place the charge point in the carriageway due to the proximity of service mains or other underground obstructions.
4. ANALYSIS & CONSIDERATION OF ANY ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS
4.2 The option of not agreeing to the proposed electric car club bays was considered. Given the current high up-front cost of electric vehicles and move toward home working there is an opportunity to encourage a shared ownership model of electric vehicle ownership and reduce demand for on street parking.
5. COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & CONSULTATION
5.1 Informal consultation letters were sent out to residents within the immediate vicinity of proposed fast and rapid electric vehicle infrastructure installations to ask for their comments in May/June 2020 and reported to ETS Committee in September 2020. Following this informal consultation, the council formally completed the change of parking restriction at these locations to Electric Vehicle charging only through a formal Traffic Regulation Order in July/August 2020.
5.2 For lamp post chargers where complaints have been received about the bays being blocked by non-electric vehicles a Traffic Regulation Order can be advertised to propose converting the bay to for ‘Electric Vehicle Recharging Only’ and inviting comments on the proposed change. We expect half of lamp post chargers to be designated as for electric vehicle recharging only by March 2021. Officers are also engaging with national and local disabled groups as part of the Innovate UK project.
6. CONCLUSION
6.1 The Competition and Markets Authority have estimated that nationally we will need ten times the number of charge points by 2030. Locally we estimate that we could need the capacity to charge up to 20,000 electric vehicles in residential areas with no off-street parking by 2030. As such an ongoing programme of bids for funding for chargepoints is recommended.
6.2 Employers, rail stations, supermarkets, petrol stations and car clubs are all expanding their provision of charge points for their employees, passengers, and customers. We will continue to engage with organisations locally to support the expansion of the charging network in the city.
6.3 As the number of electric vehicles increases the commercial viability of installing charge points should improve. The identification of suitable sites for a rapid or ultra- rapid charging station should help encourage early investment in this type of facility, particularly for visitors to the city.
7. FINANCIAL & OTHER IMPLICATIONS:
Financial Implications:
7.1 There are no direct financial implications of this update report. As set out in the original report to October 2019 Environment Transport and Sustainability Committee, the capital cost of the charge points is fully externally funded. 75% funded by grant from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) and 25% by the charge point operator (EB Charging). The successful joint bid for Innovate UK research funding will also fully cover the costs of the project creating model bookable disabled bay charge points and bookable public charging for fleet vehicles where the driver has no off-street parking. Any revenue implications are currently contained within existing budgets (for example, officer time). This is reviewed as part of monthly budget monitoring.
Finance Officer Consulted: John Lack Date: 23/08/21
Legal Implications:
7.2 The Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee is the appropriate committee for the recommendations set out in paragraph 2 above in accordance with Part 4 of the council’s constitution.
7.3 As noted in the body of the report, the allocation of parking bays for specific use as car-club bays will require traffic regulation orders (TROs). The Council’s powers for making TROs are found in the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984.The procedure for making such orders is contained in the Local Authorities' Traffic Orders (Procedure) (England and Wales) Regulations 1996 which require public notice of proposed orders to be given and for the relevant documents to be placed on deposit for public inspection. Any person may object to the making of an order and any duly made objections must be given consideration by the Council.
Lawyer Consulted: Hilary Woodward Date: 23/08/21
Equalities Implications:
7.4 Due to the comparatively high purchase cost of electric vehicles, the direct benefits of electric vehicle driving in terms of cheaper fuel and running costs may tend to favour more affluent residents and visitors. The purchase cost of electric vehicles is however falling, particularly as the second-hand electric vehicle market grows, spreading the direct benefits more evenly
7.5 Air pollution disproportionately impacts less well-off residents, children and, for short-term pollution peaks, older people and some disabled people, so electric vehicle charging indirectly benefits these groups to a greater extent.
7.6 An Equalities Impact Assessment has been carried out and the accessibility of charge points for disabled drivers was highlighted as a key area for consideration. We are pleased to be working with Disabled Motoring UK as well as local disabled groups BADGE and PossAbility People to understand the needs of disabled electric vehicle drivers when using the charging network, as part on the Innovate UK project.
Sustainability Implications:
7.7 All electric vehicles, when operating in electric mode generate no emissions of toxic, airborne pollution such as oxides of nitrogen, which are serious health concerns, particularly in the city’s Air Quality Management Areas. Electric vehicles do still generate some particulate matter from tyre and brake wear but are overall, less polluting than conventional vehicles.
7.8 The promotion of electric car clubs can reduce the number of vehicles on the road by between 7-17 vehicles per car club bay, depending on usage. All the city’s charge points are powered by 100% renewable electricity.
Brexit Implications:
7.9 None.
Crime & Disorder Implications:
7.9 None
Risk and Opportunity Management Implications:
7.10 There is a risk that there is insufficient demand for the newly formed Electric Brighton CarShare Ltd to be viable.
Public Health Implications:
7.11 The adoption of electric vehicles has the potential to reduce air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions resulting in fewer premature deaths and negative health consequences.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
Appendices:
1. Information on charge point infrastructure development and usage
Background Documents
1. Electric Vehicle Charge Point Infrastructure Update to ETS Committee 29th September 2020 Subject: (brighton-hove.gov.uk)