Brighton and Hove car charging points hit key milestones

Brighton and Hove City Council has revealed the growing number of people charging their cars in the city has surged past a number of critical milestones.

Since April 2020, the city’s on-street and fast charging points have delivered 100,000 kWh of electricity to vehicles across Brighton and Hove. This electric power has helped to save around 100 tonnes in CO2 emissions in estimated equivalent journeys by petrol or diesel vehicles.

The city has also surpassed the 10,000 unique charging sessions mark with March, April and the first part of May figures showing the most significant usage of charging points so far.

The milestones come as new figures also show growing electric vehicle uptake in the city, with 871 electric vehicles and other plug-in vehicles now registered in the city, up to the end of March this year.

If the trend continues, the council will meet their target of registering 5,000 electric vehicles by 2025.

Councillor Amy Heley

The chairwoman of the council’s environment, transport and sustainability committee, Amy Heley, said: “To reach these milestones during a period when travel has been so disrupted is a fantastic achievement.

“We know that if we’re to encourage those that need to use a car to switch to an electric vehicle, we have to make sure there’s the infrastructure to support them. Only by doing this will we provide a range of different travel options for our residents and visitors.

“On-street charging points, rapid charging hubs, fast chargers, and an increasing number of mandatory charging bays for electric vehicles shows we’re committed to being ahead of the game.”

There was a project to install 200 on-street electric vehicle charging points across the city that was completed last year. £300,000 of funding came from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles, and a further £100,000 came from investment from Electric Blue, who were chosen to install, maintain and manage the charging points.

The council have also launched four new rapid charging taxi hubs at Preston Park, Ashton Rise and Victoria Road. Residents and visitors can also use these until taxi uptake demands all the bays.

• READ MORE: Hundreds more electric vehicles registered in Brighton and Hove last year

Dan O’Hara, chief executive of operator EB Charging, said: “We’ve been working with Brighton and Hove City Council since 2019, and we’re very proud to be part of the city’s journey in reducing CO2 emissions.

“Alongside the council team, we have been developing the city’s charging and energy infrastructure to help encourage more people to switch to electric cars and to help stop electric vehicle charging bays being blocked by internal combustion engine vehicles.

“This switch is a major step in improving air quality and realising our vision to help create zero-emission towns and cities everywhere.”