The growing number of people charging electric vehicles (EV) in the city means that usage has surged through a number of key milestones in recent weeks.
Since April 2020 the city’s on-street and fast charging points have delivered 100,000 kWh of electricity to vehicles across Brighton & Hove, helping to save around 100 tons in CO2 emissions in estimated equivalent journeys by petrol or diesel vehicles.
We’ve also hit the 10,000 unique charging sessions mark with March, April and the first part of May figures showing the largest usage of charging points so far.
You can see more facts and figures about charger use in the city on our Electric Vehicles and Charging webpage.
The milestones come as new figures also show growing EV uptake in the city with 871 EVs and other plug-in vehicles now registered in the city up to the end of March this year. It means we’re on track to meet our target of having 5000 EVs registered in the city by 2025.
Chair of the council’s Environment, Transport and Sustainability committee, Amy Heley said: “To reach these milestones during a period when travel has been so disrupted is a fantastic achievement.
“We know that if we’re to encourage those that need to use a car to switch to an electric vehicle, we have to make sure there’s infrastructure to support them. Only by doing this will we provide a range of different travel options for our residents and visitors.
“On-street charging points, rapid charging hubs, fast chargers and an increasing number of mandatory charging bays for EVs shows we’re committed to being ahead of the game.”
Background
A project to install 200 on-street electric vehicle charging points across the city was completed last year thanks to £300,000 of funding from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles and a further £100,000 investment from Electric Blue who were chosen to install, maintain and manage the charging points.
We’ve also recently launched four new rapid charging taxi hubs at Preston Park, Ashton Rise and Victoria Road. These can also be used by residents and visitors until taxi uptake demands all the bays.
We will soon be adding a further 12 mandatory electric vehicle charging bays to the 22 we already have in the city. These have been chosen from surveys of existing bays and in response to feedback from residents.
More information about electric vehicles and charging in Brighton & Hove.
Dan O’Hara, CEO of operator EB Charging: “We’ve been working with Brighton and Hove City Council since 2019 and we’re very proud to be part of the city’s journey in reducing CO2 emissions.
“Alongside the Council team, we have been developing the city’s charging and energy infrastructure to help encourage more people to switch to electric cars, and to help stop EV charging bays being blocked by ICE vehicles.
“This switch is a major step in improving air quality and realising our vision to help create zero emission towns and cities everywhere.”