Electric vehicle charging has “surged” in the city - with councillors discussing the expansion of infrastructure to keep up with demand.

Brighton and Hove City Council said charging of electric vehicles (EV) in Brighton and Hove is rising.

Next week, members of the environment, transport and sustainability committee will be given an update of EV usage and be asked to approve recommendations designed to increase the number of charge points.

The council said this would involve taking steps to procure and award a new concession contract, subdivided into three lots, for the supply, installation, maintenance and operation of electric vehicle charge points for a term of ten years

It added that independent analysis has shown the city is one of the best prepared areas in the country for EV uptake and that more than three quarters of residents without off street parking now live within a five minute walk of an EV charging point.

In 2019, the council awarded a five-year contract to EB Charging (soon to be renamed Blink Charging) and since then more than 350 public charging points have been installed.

In 2022, the council passed the milestone of having delivered over one million kilowatt hours of electricity to vehicles - it said usage of these points has more than doubled over the past year.

According to figures from the Department for Transport, there are more than 2,000 electric vehicles registered in Brighton and Hove, with that number possibly reaching 27,000 by 2028.

If approved, the measures set out in the report would, at a minimum:

  • Triple the number of lamppost chargers (approximately 12 hours for a full charge) from 300 to 900
  • Increase the number of fast chargers (approximately six hours for a full charge) from 100 to over 300
  • Increase the number of rapid chargers (approximately one hour for a full charge) from six to 100.
  • This would increase the city’s current weekly charging capacity on our public network from 4,000 to 32,000 vehicles.

Councillor Steve Davis, who co-chairs the environment, transport and sustainability committee said: “We’re already one of the best cities in the UK for charging electric and hybrid vehicles and we’re seeing a massive increase in usage of our public charging points.

“For those that need to drive, the future is electric and the number of EV vehicles on the road is rising. We’ve made excellent progress so far but we need to do more which is why I’m pleased to see the recommendations for expansion in this report.”