Slough Borough Council in Berkshire has secured £130,000 from the Department for Transport's Electric Vehicle Pavement Channels Grant (EVPCG) to roll out a scheme improving access to electric vehicle charging infrastructure at home. The cross-pavement channel enables residents to install a cable gully into the pavement outside their property and charge on the street without creating hazards.
How the scheme works
This is the only sanctioned method for running a charging cable across a public footway and could save residents approximately £4,000 annually compared with using public charging, the council said. The first installations for residents lacking a driveway were completed by Kerbo Charge, the council's partner for the scheme, on August 12.
There will initially be a 12-month trial period, encompassing 20 installations. Residents accepted as part of the trial will be required to contribute £399 towards the installation costs and arrange installation of their own wall-mounted EV charger.
Eligibility and installation
The council stated the most appropriate properties were those where residents can typically park outside their home and can access a ground-floor electricity supply. Through the scheme, they plug into their home charger, feed the EV cable through the cross-pavement channel and plug into their vehicle on-street. The channel sits flush to the pavement to prevent trip hazards.
Councillor Nadeem Khawar, lead member for environment and public realm at Slough Borough Council, said: "This is an exciting trial and we are grateful to have received the funding to do it. Having no driveway will no longer be a barrier to home charging.
"The cross-pavement channel is unobstructive to those using the pavement and creates easy access for home charging. We have a great network of electric vehicle infrastructure in Slough already, and home charging is becoming more popular. We hope the trial goes well and we can expand it further in time."
Industry reaction and future plans
Kerbo Charge co-founder Michael Goulden said: "We're delighted to be working with Slough Borough Council on this trial. At its heart, this is about giving residents more choice in how they charge their electric vehicle and helping remove the barriers that can put people off making the switch. We're excited to see more Slough residents make the move to electric in the months ahead."
The council's environmental quality team will oversee the success of the initial 20 installations before rolling the scheme out more broadly. Tom Preston, chief executive officer at Hippo Leasing, described the trial as something for EV owners and those contemplating making the switch to "watch closely". He said: "This trial tackles one of the real reasons EV leasing hasn't worked for everyone. Around a third of UK households don't have a driveway, so home charging has effectively only been available to people with off-street parking. Everyone else has had to rely on the public network, which may cost more and isn't always nearby, and that's put plenty of people off going electric, even when a lease would otherwise suit them.
"If Slough's cross-pavement channels prove reliable over the trial's first year, it could be one of the changes that actually shifts who an EV lease makes sense for. While this won't solve wider public infrastructure overnight, and drivers must remember a channel doesn't grant a reserved parking space outside their home or eliminate initial installation costs, Slough's 20-channel pilot is a huge step in the right direction. If local councils roll this out widely, it may remove a huge barrier for millions of drivers, making cheaper domestic overnight energy tariffs a reality."
As a leasing provider, that's definitely worth watching closely. Every barrier like this that gets removed brings EV leasing within reach for more households, not just the ones with a drive to park on.
