EV charging and infrastructure In our experience, in the real world, there is just not enough power quite reached the tipping point in EV adoption to warrant investment now. Russell Simmons, director at Ballast Nedam Parking, says that, even when his clients are looking to futureproof their facilities for an all-electric future, the infrastructure is quite likely to be a sticking point. We design multi-storey car parks for clients across the country and, at the moment, installation [of EV charging points] is driven by local authority planning regulations, says Simmons. Some local authority planning departments may well have a policy, but many others dont. If they dont, then it is down to the applicant to do what they think is right. Just not enough power For those local authorities with a policy, it is up to the applicant to comply as far as they can, Simmons continues. It is often the case that it is impossible to bring that level of live charges to the building because there is a restriction on the amount of power available. Even if we are putting in new sub-stations, it can still be tricky. In our experience, in the real world, there is just not enough power. Like Simmons, Grahame Rose, director of development at GroupNexus, thinks the biggest challenge facing car park designers and operators is the capability of the power supply. The big issue here relates to the number of charging points and particularly fast-charging points that a car park can support without the requirement of a sub-station, costing hundreds of thousands of pounds. Currently, landowners will only be incentivised to install EV chargepoints if they see it encouraging customers to their car parks. Rose says: In my view, this will undoubtedly change when the number of EVs increases to around 15 per cent of vehicles on the road. Feedback from local authorities and private operators to a BPA consultation on the proposed Building Regulations echoed Simmons and Rose. Although there was widespread support for increasing the EV infrastructure, they questioned whether the government would provide more funding for the expansion of that infrastructure and at what rate the chargepoints needed to be installed. One response suggested linking the required number of charging points to the rise in electric vehicles on the road. In Cambridge, Dicks says the nancial solution lies in the commercial sector. As the city rolls out its ambitious plans, it is seeking commercial partners to shoulder some or all of the costs. The project attracted the rst Oce for Low Emissions Vehicles (OLEV) grant and is now running as a commercial scheme. Dicks explains: Our main thing has been our taxilicensing policy. All new taxis will have to be electric or plug-in hybrid by 2020 and all licensed vehicles will have to be electric by 2028. We applied for OLEV funding to put in a rapid-charging infrastructure to support the taxi trade and we are halfway through that project. They are currently just for taxis but we want to extend that to the public. The taxi-only chargepoints were designed to give short bursts of energy during a shift, so drivers could top up their vehicles quickly while they had a break. The charge is priced accordingly at a higher cost than charging at home. Demand outstrips supply The problem for Cambridge City Council is that there is a high demand among the local population for a good EV structure, but only a handful of places where the public can charge their vehicles. The way the funding works at the moment, we can only use the chargepoints for taxis, so we need to look at ways of making public chargepoints available, says Dicks. In the city, 60 per cent of homes have no off-street parking. But Cambridge is also a place where people want to get on with switching to EVs. We need to be able to meet that demand. The DfT understands the issues facing those responsible for providing a solid EV infrastructure. We are working with industry to future-proof chargepoints so people will be able to use them for decades to come, says a spokesperson for the department. We have launched a 400m charging infrastructure investment fund, which will see thousands more chargepoints installed across the UK. Claire Jones, head of infrastructure at OLEV, adds: The governments aim is for the UK to have the best EV charging network in the world and we already have more than 21,000 public chargepoints. The chargepoint infrastructure investment fund will help to catalyse investment into EV infrastructure. We are also consulting on proposals to make England the rst country in the world where new homes with a parking space will need to have an EV chargepoint. The desire for the UK to be a world leader in EV provision is clear. It is just a question of turning good intentions into workable reality. 18 britishparking.co.uk PN Nov19 pp16-19 Lead Feature.indd 18 24/10/2019 12:17