Suffolk County Council to trial a range of EV charging channels

Suffolk County Council are looking for residents to take part in a EV charging trial, which will explore the use of pavement channels to charge cars outside homes without off street parking. 

The trial will last 12 months and will be using charging equipment supplied by three of the leading companies in this field.

40% of homes don’t have access to a garage or driveway and, given the disparity in cost between charging at home and using a public charging machine, this represents a significant barrier to adoption for a significant number of people.

In the Suffolk scheme, a charging channel will be cut into the pavement outside the property and a charging cable run out from a charger on the property to the car on the road. The purpose of the trial is to see which option would be best suited for future use.

The three companies taking part are:

• Gul-E 
• Kerbo Charge 
• Charge Gully 

To take part in the trial homeowners must either own an electric vehicle or be planning on purchasing one ‘imminently’. They must have no access to off-street parking and no dropped kerb or grass verges outside the property.

Homeowners will be expected pay for the installation of the home charging unit, although the council will support the homeowner in applying for a £350 Electric Vehicle Chargepoint Grant from the government. 

They will also need to apply to their local District or Borough Council for planning permission to install a home charger, which  is usually required for properties with on-street parking only.

The Council will liase with the supplier to organise the installation of the charging channel and pay for the cost of the charging channel, the Section 178 licence during the trial and planning permission costs for a home charger.

The council add: ‘The aim of this 12 month trial is to enable our Highways Team to determine which charging channel product, if any, we will make available to all residents based on user-experience and other factors.’