Electric Vehicle Charging Points; their place in South Hill Parish

South Hill’s CCAG recognises that migration to electric vehicles (EVs) is constrained by the ability to charge them, particularly in a rural setting where not all properties are capable of supporting off street charging. ChargeMyStreet Ltd is a Cumbria based community benefit society with the vision “For every home to be within a 5-minute walk of a chargepoint, giving residents without off-street parking the opportunity to switch to an electric vehicle”. The CCAG shares that vision, and therefore actively encourages owners of EV charge points with suitable off street parking to make their charge point available to friends and neighbours using schemes such as JustCharge, Co Charger and PlugShare.

How it works:

Owners of EV charging points can register their charge point on one or more of the EV charging networks such as JustCharge (part of JustPark, the parking app), CoCharger or PlugShare. On Co Charger, you can become a host, which allows you to share your address, the type of charger you have (both type of connector and power are important) and the availability of your charger. It also lets you manage bookings and set prices. Some apps like PlugShare are targeted at existing electric-car owners, for them to use when they're away from home – either as a cheaper alternative to public rapid chargers or in areas where they're less prevalent. Whereas JustCharge and Co Charger are encouraging people to share their chargers on a more frequent basis, as a method of community support and to remove a major barrier to electric-car ownership. Joel Teague, CEO of Co Charger, explained his app, saying: “In practice it means a motorist living in a flat can have an arrangement with a nearby neighbour with a driveway to charge at theirs once or twice a week, ideally overnight. The host can earn some extra income from renting out their charger, whilst the 'chargee' gets the nearest possible experience to home charging.”

Each owner determines when their charger is available for other drivers to use, as well as the price for the use of their charger. Payments are done through the app, without hassle for the “charge” or the host. The price needs to be set to cover the increase in electricity bills for the host, including any system losses, plus the levy charged by the app provider. The benefit for the host is that a small levy to defer the installation cost of the chargepoint can also be included. Provided that the profit after energy costs does not exceed £1000 per year, HMRC do not need to be informed. Booking needs to be made in advance, unlike a public charger where the EV just finds an available point to plug in. Thus it is ideally suited to neighbourhoods where regular routines amongst a few neighbours can be easily arranged. For example, with Co Charger regular charging slots can be set up, to ensure the car is ready to go.