People who live in, or visit, Cambridge will soon be able to charge their electric vehicle in more city car parks thanks to the installation of 177 new charging points by the end of 2022.
The first 50 chargers will soon be installed at Castle Hill, Adam and Eve and Gwydir Street pay and display car parks, with the total number of charging points increasing to over 600, at 14 sites across Cambridge, over the next few years.
Cambridge City Council is working in partnership with Connected Kerb, one of the UK’s largest providers of EV charging infrastructure, to make it “significantly easier” for people in Cambridge to charge their electric vehicles and to help improve the air quality in the city.
The Council says working with Connected Kerb will allow it to deliver the 600 charging points, supporting infrastructure and long-term future proofing at no cost to the public purse and the project will generate a long-term revenue stream.
With the introduction of substantial additional numbers of chargers the council aims to enable a higher take-up of electric vehicles from the local community as part of its vison of a net zero city, and ahead of the nationwide ban on new wholly petrol and diesel vehicles due in 2030.
The council’s Climate Change Strategy 2021-2026, details how it is tackling the climate crisis by working to reduce its own direct emissions to net zero carbon and by working with partners and communities towards the vision of a net zero Cambridge by 2030.
The strategy sets out six key objectives for how the council will address the causes and consequences of climate change in Cambridge:
- Reducing carbon emissions from city council buildings, land, vehicles and services
- Reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions from homes and buildings
- Reducing carbon emissions from transport
- Reducing consumption of resources, reducing waste, and increasing recycling
- Promoting sustainable food
- Supporting council services, residents and businesses to adapt to the impacts of climate change
Cllr Rosy Moore, Executive Councillor for Environment, Climate Change and Biodiversity, said: “It’s really positive that these new chargers are being installed in council car parks across the city. They will be available for car park users in the day and for local residents to use at night. We are also working with Cambridgeshire County Council, the highways authority, to get more on-street chargers installed across the city in residential areas in the coming years.
“This is another project which will get us closer to our objective of being a net zero city by 2030. Petrol and diesel vehicles are of course a major contributor to the city’s overall carbon output, so enabling more people to easily recharge their electric vehicles will be a significant step along the way to achieving that goal.”
Cllr Katie Thornburrow, Executive Councillor for Planning and Transport, said: “We know that we have to move away from our reliance on fossil fuels, and electric vehicles are an important part of that transition. Making it as easy as possible for people to charge their cars is one of the key things that we can do as a council to make Cambridge an EV-friendly city.
“This partnership offers us a cost-effective way to adapt existing services like car parks to make them more suitable for the fossil fuel free world we need to build. I hope everyone living and working in Cambridge, and anyone planning to visit, will consider using electric vehicles instead of petrol or diesel ones. We will all benefit.”
Chris Pateman-Jones, CEO of Connected Kerb, said: “We are delighted to be working with Cambridge City Council to install our charging points in their city’s car parks. The project will make EV charging more accessible and affordable for both residents and visitors to Cambridge and offer a real opportunity to make real progress in the battle against climate change.”
(Picture – Connected Kerb)
