New electric vehicle charging points coming to Winslow and Princes Risborough

Electric vehicle charging points are coming to Winslow and Princes Risborough thanks to Government funding.
Library image of a kerbside charging pointLibrary image of a kerbside charging point
Library image of a kerbside charging point

The points at Winslow and Princes Risborough are among 20 across Buckinghamshire which go live tomorrow (Friday) after the council successfully bidded for funding of £35,288 for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV).The points, which are mounted on lampposts or bollards in six locations were installed following a six-month trial in Marlow earlier this year.

Winslow's charging point is in Burley Road and the one in Princes Risborough is on Southfield Road.

They have been supplied by Char.gy Ltd, a company launched in 2016 to provide residential electric vehicle charging for people without off-street parking. Meanwhile, the county council will be working with Char.gy to pilot road-mounted induction charging points, which would not require connection cables.

Kerbside induction 'mats', flush with the road surface, will be installed at locations yet to be decided to test 'wireless' charging with specially adapted electric cars.Bucks County Council's head of highways Mark Averill, said the pilot, at a very early stage, would run over two years and test not only the feasibility of road-mounted induction mats but also the special adaptation needed to allow electric cars to be charged using this cable-less method.For now, the 20 pay-as-you-go charging points - also installed in neighbourhoods in Amersham, Chesham, High Wycombe and Marlow - will provide cable-fed top-ups at 33p per kilowatt-hour. The addition of these charging points brings the total number of public points to 59 across the county.

Their locations will all appear on an online interactive map at www.zapmap.comMark Shaw, the county council's deputy leader and cabinet member for transport said Bucks needed to lead in making it easier for owners of electric cars to charge their vehicles on the street, particularly those with no access to a driveway or garage.

He said: “These innovative projects move us forward a huge step in encouraging electric car use in Bucks.

“We’re beginning to break the chicken and egg argument that says society can’t expect more electric car users until there are more charging points, and we can’t afford to provide more charging points until there are more electric cars on the road."Installation of the charging points cost £47,050, which included £11,762 from the county’s capital programme fund.