Charging electric vehicles
Based upon typical car mileage, most electric vehicles will need recharging once in a typical week.
If you are resident or business with a driveway or parking space off-street, there are many businesses that can install a chargepoint on your property for your own use.
For people who keep their vehicles on-street, and for everyone to be able to top up their cars and vans whilst out and about, there are a growing number of electric chargepoints across the borough in car parks and on streets. Zap Map and Open Charge Map are examples of websites which show where chargepoints are located around the borough.
Our Electric Vehicle Chargepoint Infrastructure Plan (below) was approved in February 2023, setting out the actions we will take to expand the number of publicly-available chargepoints across the borough to keep ahead of growing demand from residents, businesses and visitors.
The length of time taken to charge your electric vehicle will depend on the size of the battery and the charger you use however slow chargers (up to 3kW) are best for overnight charging as these typically take between six to 12 hours to fully charge, fast chargers (7kW to 22kW) usually take between three to four hours while rapid chargers (43kW to 50kW) can charge an electric vehicle to 80% full in around 30 minutes.
Electric vehicles making longer trips need recharging on the journey, just as a petrol or diesel car will need to fill up on route. There is now a growing network of very high-powered ‘rapid’ and ‘ultra-rapid’ chargers at motorway service stations and along main roads that can recharge an electric vehicle in as little as 15 minutes, making it possible to conveniently combine recharging with a regular rest stop.