Portsmouth evaluates 300 new charging locations
The locations it has identified so far have been based on resident requests to the local council, and are spread across the city. The council says it aims to install chargers on or near existing lampposts to take advantage of existing power infrastructure, and will mark EV-only parking bays on the road next to them. These will only be available to plug-in vehicles that are actively charging, and will not be available for regular parking. Users will be able to pay for the chargers with card or via the Zest app.
The council anticipates that the first charge points will be operational in summer 2025. It will run a 21-day public consultation with nearby residents after notifying them, which will give them the opportunity to raise objections about the locations. The project will be supported by the UK government’s On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) with matched funding from Zest.
Portsmouth City Council says that the move will ‘more than triple the number of on-street chargers’ in the city, with other existing charge points to remain operational. However, the council hopes to transfer operation of a number of these over to Zest.
Robin Heap, CEO at Zest, said: “Zest is supporting Portsmouth City Council to take significant action on carbon emissions and neighbourhood air quality. Our EV infrastructure partnership will serve residents over many years at locations that have been carefully selected for maximum community benefit.”
Zest operates a UK-wide network of hundreds of chargers, including 75kW-120kW DC chargers in a number of locations. Users do not need a Zest account in order to use their chargers, and are able to scan a QR code at the charge point and pay as a guest.
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