Over the coming weeks you may start to see new electrical equipment appearing on lamp posts in your street.
Around 1,500 electric vehicle (EV) chargers are being installed across the borough over the next two years as part of a Council initiative to encourage the transition from petrol and diesel vehicles.
In total, around 2,600 charging points will be installed in residential streets around the borough where there is little or no off-street parking available.
Ultimately, at least nine in 10 households without a driveway will be within 100 metres of an EV charger.
One of the barriers to people switching to electric vehicles in Reading is that so many of our streets have terrace housing, so almost half of households in the borough do not have access to off-street parking.
The public chargers will give people more confidence that they will have somewhere to charge their vehicle close to home
The Council signed a contract with supplier Char.gy earlier this year to deliver the programme after securing £866k from the government’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) fund.
Engineers will soon be installing the first chargers which will mostly be fitted to existing lamp posts to keep disruption to a minimum. Standalone units will also be installed where there is enough space.
Priority is being given to high-density residential areas without access to off-street parking.
Another scheme the Council is involved in to encourage the use of electric vehicles is discounted cross-pavement charging.
This gives households without off-street parking the option to charge their vehicle in the street using their own domestic power supply.
A gully can be installed in the footpath to safely carry cables from the property to the vehicle.
The Council secured £202,000 government for the scheme, run in partnership with Kerbo Charge, and so far 16 have been installed and a further 60 applications are being processed. Visit https://www.kerbocharge.com/locations/reading for details.
Transport is responsible for around 26% of carbon emissions in Reading and these initiatives support the Council’s aims to improve our local environment, reduce air pollution and improve the health of residents.
By Cllr Micky Leng, deputy leader of Reading Borough Council
