Electri-Cities - UK’s Most EV Ready Cities & Towns Revealed

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08 August 2018 | Updated 10 August 2018

Poole, in Dorset is the most electric car-friendly town in the UK, while London, not surprisingly, is the least friendly, according to research into home car charging by Motorway.co.uk, the car buying comparison website.

Analysing the towns and cities that are best placed to create a substantial home charging network, Motorway.co.uk assessed the percentage of homes currently on the market in major towns and cities with private, off-street parking, enabling households to easily install an electric charge point and power up their vehicles at home.

Motorway.co.uk used new properties for sale data as a gauge of total and type of housing stock, to reveal the areas with the biggest opportunities and challenges for home charging.

The Government has said it wants all petrol and diesel cars off UK roads by 2040 to be replaced by more environmentally-friendly electric cars.  For that to happen, motorists need to be able to charge their electric vehicles easily and cheaply. However, the survey of car owners revealed that more than half (52%) said they weren’t planning to switch to electric any time soon because of the UK’s inadequate charging infrastructure.

Car Poole

In Poole, more than 9 in 10 properties on the market have some form of private parking, so the Dorset town is perfectly set up to create a home charging network over the next 10-15 years. Similarly, Solihull and Chelmsford have more than 90% of current properties on the market with off-street parking.

This is in stark contrast to London, where less than half (48.6%) of properties on the market have off-street parking available. This presents a headache for residents who currently have to drive to a public charging points and local councils who will need to build more shared charging units to cope with demand.

80.7% of properties for sale in London are flats or terraced houses. Although many have off-street parking, that doesn’t mean electric charging points can be installed, as it’s likely the freeholder will own the land and the flat owner will have to get their permission - and potentially pay a pricey levy.

The problem is even more severe in some boroughs. A third of London boroughs, 95% of housing stock is made up of terraced houses and flats, which will either have no private parking, shared parking or allocated bay parking, where the land is not owned by the homeowner.

2040 vision

The challenge facing the Government is ensuring that electric car charging infrastructure can handle the 2040 switch over to electric and hybrid vehicles. And a vital component of this network will be home charging, as many people will want the option of leaving their cars charging overnight at home, not on the street.

Alex Buttle, director of Motorway.co.uk said:

“The physical shape of Britain’s housing stock could put a spanner in the works of the Government’s electric switch over plans. Although many car owners can expect to have access to on-street charging stations, there’s no guarantee there will be enough to go around.

“As the country moves closer to the 2040 Government deadline proposed for a UK-wide diesel and petrol vehicle ban, the need for an electric car charging infrastructure becomes ever-more critical. We are talking about more than 30 million new power-hungry electric cars on the road by then if the switch over happens as expected."

Picture: Systems such as the ChargePoint may come to the aid when it comes to home, on-street parking - and for the at-work charging facility.

Article written by Cathryn Ellis | Published 08 August 2018

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