In my response to CBC's consultation on electric vehicle charging guidance, I suggest that -
- Proposed development sites should be considered inappropriate for development until grid infrastructure, for example, has first been made available, rather than developers being required to provide "off-site contributions"
- An electric vehicle charging point should be provided for each allocated parking space per dwelling, rather than one per dwelling
In rural areas the car will remain a primary mode of travel, and with some very narrow exceptions it will remain the only feasible transport mode to be promoted into the future.
Therefore, residential developments in most if not all locations will need to promote electric vehicle charging infrastructure at home, and there should be the certainty that it will be installed by developers. As such, the guidance could be strengthened so that no new rural developments are approved if there are any uncertainties about whether electric vehicle charging infrastructure can be provided at the time of the initial build.
As drafted, it’s foreseeable that larger families (moving into larger dwellings with multiple car parking spaces) will have insufficient charging capacity from the day they move in and may need to retrofit very soon after occupying their new home, which is counter to the stated objective to avoid the cost of retro-fitting.
These practical suggestions may go some way to help us reach our sustainability goals by ensuring all new residential developments have adequate EV infrastructure built-in as standard.