Dorset Council’s greener travel at zero capital cost

In 2019, Dorset Council was looking to replace a handful of pre-existing rapid chargers and began an open conversation with us about what we could do to offer residents and businesses a cleaner, greener way to travel in Dorset.

The local authority wanted to take steps towards their ambition to become a carbon-neutral Council by 2040 at the latest, with the whole of the county being carbon neutral by 2050. They were also keen to accelerate several actions in their  Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy Action Plan and as part of this, we discussed more widespread electric vehicle charge points in public car parks, supporting the transition to electric vehicles.

Since then, their ambitions have rocketed and we have supported them every charge of the way!

Making it feasible

We have several funding approaches we offer, tailored to local authority requirements.

One of those is a fully funded installation and management solution for electric vehicle charge points in public sites, with our funding partners Mer. It’s a great way for local authorities to roll out EV charging infrastructure at zero capital cost and in this case, the first step for us was to carry out a large feasibility study across 115 public car park sites and several Council offices in Dorset.

During the process, full pricing and site designs were put together and we agreed, with Dorset Council, which sites to take forward.

Working together to go electric

After several months of planning, conversation and collaboration, we began installing ‘phase one’ of this landmark project, which covers 17 public car parks across the county including Blandford Forum, Dorchester, Gillingham, Lyme Regis, Shaftesbury, Sherborne, Verwood, West Bay, Weymouth and Wimborne Minster.

The fast (22kW) charge points installed are supplied with 100% renewable energy and mean that drivers can charge their electric vehicles while visiting the county’s towns. A quick top-up (a charge of 15 minutes) enables a journey of about 15 miles, or a full charge will take 2-4 hours, depending on the vehicle. All charge points can be accessed through the Mer charging portal and app.

It’s been great working in partnership with the Dorset Council team to make this happen and as they say,

“Working with Joju is a pleasure. Their can-do attitude to problem-solving is refreshing and undoubtedly part of the reason why Dorset’s electric vehicle charging infrastructure programme has been such a success. They have a real understanding of how local authorities work and have demonstrated a genuine willingness to accommodate Dorset’s charging infrastructure needs, for the benefit of both residents and visitors”.

Cllr Ray Bryan, Dorset Council’s Portfolio Holder for Highways, Travel and Environment, also commented:

“Dorset has an important role to play in helping to tackle the climate and ecological emergency. The government plans to phase out sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030, so it is important drivers are offered more sustainable travel options now.

We are grateful to Joju Charging and their partners for funding both the installation and management of this scheme and for their enthusiasm and hard work in getting us to this stage.”

More rapids, ultras and fasts

We’re excited to currently be rolling out Phase 2 of this project. It covers the install of electric vehicle charge points in approximately another 21 sites around the county and includes new rapid chargers, ultra fast rapids, and more fast chargers too.

Christopher Whitehouse, Transport Project Officer, Economic Growth and Infrastructure, Dorset Council commented:

Dorset Council is now in its fourth year of successfully working with Joju on the delivery of EV Charging Infrastructure, which has helped place the county in the top 20% of local authority areas for charge point availability. Dedication, focus on quality and value, a flexible approach to delivery and excellent customer service has made Joju an easy choice to be Dorset’s installer of choice”. 

The feedback is fantastic to hear.

Future installs in Dorset

Dorset Council has also recently been awarded funding through the government’s LEVI (Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure) fund, and it is great to also hear that residents and visitors to Dorset are demanding more charge points.

Here’s to the further roll-out of electric vehicle charging infrastructure to help Dorset move to a low-carbon future, and to make travelling in the county cleaner and greener.

Find Out More

• Talk to us about LEVI funding
• Learn more about our funding package for council charge points
• We undertake all aspects from feasibility right through to installation
• We’ve got loads more information on our EV Charging page; from facts and figures to advice on going electric.

Winchester City Council’s Mixed Funding Model

Winchester City Council sits right in the heart of the Hampshire led Central Southern Regional Framework for Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure. The council declared a climate emergency in June 2019; committing to become a carbon-neutral council by 2024 with the wider district to become carbon neutral by 2030. As the highest source of council carbon emissions, transport was a priority for the council to address. As the local authority with the highest number of plug-in cars and vans registered within Hampshire at the time, it was clear that installing electric vehicle charging infrastructure was imperative to mitigating harmful emissions from local transport and improving air quality. Councillor Jackie Porter says “As more drivers invest in electric cars, we want residents and visitors to be sure that their visits to our city, larger villages, and market towns include the chance to recharge their electric car. We hope that by installing electric vehicle charge points it will boost tourism too as the summer arrives”.

Following some initial research from Horizon Power & Energy, Winchester City Council accessed the Central Southern Regional Framework and instigated a feasibility study from Joju, the suppliers to this framework, to investigate the opportunity of installing electric vehicle charge points.

Funding Winchester City Council’s EV Charge points

The feasibility study initially examined 23 public car parks. Through this process full pricing and site designs were put together for the council to then decide which sites to move forward with in the first phase of installations. As well as pricing and site design, the council were also able to access several unique funding solutions. Through the Central Southern Regional Framework, several funding options are available

• Joju can offer supplier funding for the entire cost of charge point installation (fully funded),
• a co-investment model with the council whereby the council contributes a certain percentage of the installation costs and Joju contributes the rest
• A fully council funded model whereby the council funds the entire cost of the installation. Through the fully funded and co-investment model, the ongoing maintenance and operational costs of the charge points are covered by Joju.

The council decided that it would utilise all three models of funding. Using the fully funded model for a rapid charge point, dedicated for electric taxis. The co-investment model was used for the majority of the sites, and the council decided to fully fund one site in Denmead due to requests from several local constituents. Every charge point installed through the fully supplier funded model and the co-investment model is provided with clean, renewable electricity.

The feasibility findings were published in a cabinet report and the council allocated £120,000 of council money for the portfolio, with Joju and their partner Gronn Kontakt providing the remainder of the funding.

Installing EV charge points

Overall, 16 sites were chosen for Phase One with 33 charge points to be installed in early 2021. The car parks are located across the district in Alresford, Bishops Waltham, Denmead, Harestock, Wickham and Winchester City Centre. 32 of the charge points provide a charge rate of up to 22kW, depending on what electric vehicle you drive. One 50kW rapid charge point was also installed at Worthy Lane Coach Park car park, near Winchester Station, which is for both public use and the emerging electric vehicle taxi trade in the local area. All 33 charge points can be accessed through the Gronn Kontakt charging portal and app.

This scheme, alongside the Hampshire County Council on-street rollout of charge points in Winchester, brings the city and the surrounding areas up to speed with the accelerating demand for electric vehicle charging.

As David Ingram, Project Lead says, “Winchester City Council’s Electric Vehicle Charging Strategy was adopted as part of its Clean Air Strategy, and supports aspirations toward a low carbon economy by encouraging the uptake of low emission vehicles. In assisting the City Council, Joju Solar provided a comprehensive and professional partnership by producing feasibility studies, giving clear presentations to decision makers, simplifying an otherwise complex set of considerations and ultimately fully project managing the installation of the network”. 

Plans for more charge points in Winchester

As Winchester continues the path to carbon neutrality, we expect to see the provision of electric vehicle charging infrastructure increase over the years. The council already have exciting projects in the pipeline which will look to expand their network of charging. Through the Central Southern Regional Framework, the notion of a universal charging network within the area is becoming more of a reality, and Winchester can be instrumental in leading the charge.

Test Valley’s fully-funded charge points

Test Valley Borough Council have recently installed 14 electric vehicle charge points across eight public car parks in Andover and Romsey.    Along the way, they have navigated uncertainties around usage levels, a wide range of technical options and different financial offerings.

It’s a story that’s common to councils nationwide as they begin their own transitions to EVs.

Where to start?

Central government has outlined its ambitions to ban internal combustion engine vehicles from sale by 2035.  While this is a noble ambition, it has fallen to local authorities to provide the necessary infrastructure for the switch to electric.   Local authorities then have to find a way of solving the problem, often starting from scratch.

Steve Raw, Engineering and Transport Manager outlined the problem. “We were very aware of a lack of knowledge and expertise within the Borough Council in terms of how best to proceed.  There are many types of chargers and various procurement and funding models available, so it’s hard to know where to start.”

It’s also fraught with risk, especially around levels of usage of the charge points, once installed. “Our worst-case scenario would be installing charge points that weren’t used.  Our car park in Romsey often reaches 90% capacity at peak times, so if dedicated EV bays were empty, it would pressurise the whole system.”

It’s easy to imagine the criticism such a scenario might invite.  For that reason, Test Valley Borough Council were reluctant to commit council funds towards an EVCP programme.

Deciding to install an EV charge point programme

Nonetheless, with central government making their electric transport vision clear, and local councillors keen to push forward with green infrastructure projects, the Council decided to take the plunge and install in CPs in Andover and Romsey. “It’s a chicken and egg situation – without public EVCPs, the public don’t have the confidence to switch to EVs.  But without EVs there’s no-one to use the EVCPs”.  The sensible way to solve this puzzle is to install smaller EVCP programmes and expand them as the electric vehicle stock increases.

Assistance from the Central Southern Regional Framework

Test Valley Borough Council contacted Hampshire County Council about the Central Southern Regional Framework which provides an efficiency procurement route for EV infrastructure.  “As a contract manager, we’d need to employ a transport consultant or build up our in-house knowledge.  The Central Southern Regional Framework allowed us to piggy-back off of the learning from other projects under the scheme.  And importantly, it also offered the possibility of external funding.”

Advice and Charge Point Funding from Joju Charging

Joju undertook a full feasibility study, which looked at possible locations for the charge points and their expected usage.  The feasibility study provided I formation on:

• Whether a site is considered viable, unviable or marginal
• Whether there is access to existing electrical infrastructure
• Whether the site is best suited for fast or rapid chargers
• Estimated costs (pre-survey)

Under the Central Southern Framework, public authorities have the option of using Joju to provide finance for EVCPs.  Here we pay for the charge points and recoup the investment by charging drivers for charging from the EV charge points.  Test Valley Brough Council followed this approach as it takes the investment risk away from the public sector.  In future, councils can deploy far more public charge points across their regions via a funded route than would be possible if purely council funded.

A fully-funded charge point programme

Test Valley Borough Council now have a total of 14 electric vehicle charge points (with 18 useable sockets), installed across eight sites.   Sites in Andover that now have EV infrastructure include Borden Gates, Chantry Centre, Shepherd’s Spring Lane, George Yard, and South Street.  Alma Road, Lortemore Place, and Princes Road in Romsey also have new EV charge points.

The sites are operating under a mix of funding models.  Joju Charging fully funds three locations, and the other five are part-funded by the Council.  The latter was made possible as with Joju’s assistance; the Council successfully applied for an OLEV grant under the on-street residential charging scheme (ORCS) the five jointly-funded sites.

“We’ll be reviewing the performance of the charge points over the coming years.  Once we get to a point where EV drivers can’t charge because the bays are full and there’s not enough capacity, we can expand the provision of charge points.  We’ve learned a lot along the way and could do a second phase very easily”.

Find out more

• The Central Southern Regional Framework is a public sector procurement route for installing EV charge points.
• It has a fully-funded option allowing councils to get EV infrastructure installed without spending a penny.
• Joju Charging provide a full feasibility report as the first stage of any public sector charge point programme.

Lamp post charging points in Reading

Like many councils across the country, Reading Borough Council are looking at providing electric car charging infrastructure for their residents.  The aim is to increase the uptake of electric vehicles across their region, and thereby reduce carbon dioxide emissions (climate change) and NOx and particulate pollution (local air quality and public health).

“Electric vehicle charging infrastructure is clearly required and it is up to local government to provide it.”, explained Councillor Tony Page.  “We’re therefore looking at all options to increase uptake of EV within the Borough”.

Given that there are an estimated 52,000 people in Reading with no off-street parking, Reading Borough Council decided to develop a scheme that could serve this section of the community.

Lamp post charging points

The most elegant solution in this case is to use lamp post electric car chargers.  These use small EV charge points attached to the lamp post itself and served from the existing electrical supply to that lamp post.  It removes the need for additional street furniture, by using the existing infrastructure.

Joju were chosen to install a total of 15 charge points on lamp posts on Coventry Road, Filey Road, Manchester Road, St Bartholemews Road, East Street, Anstey Road Caversham Road and Wantage Road.  The locations were chosen from responses to the council’s ‘Go Electric’ public consultation, whereby residents with an electric car, or planning to get an electric car, could request charge points in their locality.

City EV’s lamp post chargers

For this project, we chose City EV Cityline 100 Smart Charging units.  These are ‘Elexon approved’, which means they are certified for  being used powered by unmetered public street lighting. The charge points are currently free to use, but in future they will be accessed by RFID card or via a mobile phone app.  City EV also make a contactless card payment version of the charge point, which offers another convenient payment method for councils.

The lamp post charging points are 3.6 kW units due to the size of the electricity supply to the lamppost, but these are perfectly sufficient for an overnight charge.

Procuring lamp post charging points

The scheme was procured through the Central Southern Regional Framework, providing Reading Borough Council with a rapid and simple procurement and project development process.  The Framework is developing a coherent charging network for councils across the south of England.

Sites for lamp post electric car chargers

Although the Go Electric consultation produced a long list of potential sites, not all of these were technically simple.  Many of the lamp posts in Reading are on the house side of the pavement, meaning that additional street side columns would be required, plus additional cabling running under the pavement from the lamp post.

Therefore, for this first phase it was decided to focus solely on simple lamp post charging points and so the sites chosen were those where the lamp posts were located on the kerb side of the pavement.

Technically the installation of the charge points was very simple – the electricity supply was already in place so it was just a question of mounting the charge point on the lamp post column and registering this with the back-office payment system.  It’s also more cost effective – because the electricity supply is already in place, the expense of getting new connections can be saved.

The future of lamp post charging points

These lamp post charging points are just the start for Reading Borough Council. “We’re bringing forward our new Transport Plan, which will take a broader more holistic view of transport in the City”, said Councillor Page.  “We recognise that switching from fossil fuel vehicles to EVs helps with pollution, but doesn’t address congestion in the city – a car is a car, electric or not!  So it’s important to take a broader vision of transport, and look at more radical potential options like introducing low emission zones”. That said, further lamp post charging points, as well as units in public car parks and workplaces, are likely to be developed over the coming years.

Overall, lamp post charging points are an ideal technical solution for low cost, simple charging solutions for urban areas that lack off street parking.  With 40% of homes nationwide having no off-street parking, lamp post electric car chargers look an essential piece of technology for making the electric vehicle transition available to all.

Find Out More ….

• We’re helping public authorities develop their electric vehicle charging infrastructure.  You can see our case studies here
• We’re appointed to the Transport for London framework, specifically to install lamp post electric car chargers across London Boroughs
• See here for further information about lamp post charging points