New electric vehicle chargepoints installed across county

New electric vehicle chargepoints have been installed on a number of residential streets across the county.

A total of 56 residential, on-street EV charging bays have been launched across seven locations in West Northamptonshire and seven in North Northamptonshire, as part of a partnership between West and North Northamptonshire Councils.

Owned and operated by Liberty Charge, and delivered using its strategic partner Virgin Media O2, the chargepoints help the Councils support the UK Government target to ensure a transition from fossil fuels to electric power by 2030, when the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles will be banned.

The new chargepoints

Residential, on-street locations have been chosen to address the EV charging needs of those who do not have access to a driveway, or any other means of privately charging their vehicles.

West Northamptonshire's seven Northampton sites include: Oakwood Road, Upper Thrift Street, Ardington Road, Semilong Road, Barry Road, St James’ Park Road and Vicarage Road.

Two charging points have been installed at each site, to serve up to four vehicles at a time. The chargers are 22kW Fast Chargers, which can fully charge a single car from empty in three hours. Initially, two bays will be dedicated to EV charging, while the other two can be used for either electric vehicle charging or general parking.

Liberty Charge is entirely responsible for the charging infrastructure’s operation and maintenance, leaving the council with no liabilities associated with infrastructure, power or maintenance.

On-street, residential EV charging infrastructure is crucial for encouraging residents to go electric.

Giving our residents the confidence to choose clean green transport is an important step in our vision to be carbon neutral by 2030. Achieving that confidence is about providing convenience and reliability. And with climate goals in place, and growing EV ownership, it has to be now.Cllr Phil Larratt, WNC’s cabinet member for the environment, highways, transport and waste

Funded by Innovate UK and the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles, the Virgin Park and Charge (VPACH) project was supported by West and North Northamptonshire Councils, helping them to act as facilitators and enablers.

As the Councils required a delivery option which provided both scale and speed, but minimised disruption and dig, their needs aligned to Liberty Charge’s reach and capabilities.

It’s fantastic to be helping Councils achieve their Clean Air goals, and demonstrate the benefits of the Liberty Charge fully-funded model. Having Virgin Media O2 as our strategic delivery partner puts us in an excellent position to roll out local authority EV charging networks at pace right across the UK as we head towards our 2030 deadline.Neil Isaacson, CEO of Liberty Charge