Electric vehicle charging

One of the biggest advantages of driving electric is the improvement it can make to the environment we live in. BEVs have no tailpipe and do not emit any exhaust gases, which reduces local air pollution. Battery technology has significantly improved in recent years, meaning current models are now much closer to traditional vehicles in terms of driving distance, reliability and driver comfort. Additionally, as an alternative to ICE vehicles, switching to an EV offers:

• cheaper running costs - Electric cars need less maintenance, thanks to fewer moving parts, and servicing is much simpler.
• improved air quality and reduced carbon emissions - BEVs have no tailpipe, so they do not emit any exhaust gases, which reduces local air pollution.
• an improved driving experience including instant torque, regenerative braking (energy feeds back into the battery) and great handling, comfort and safety.

Before they can charge, owners of EVs need to be aware of the following:

• What connection type is required to charge (3 pin plug/Type 1/Type 2)
  • Three pin plug - a standard three-pin plug that you can connect to any 13 amp socket
  • Socketed - a charge point where you can connect either a Type 1 or Type 2 cable
  • Tethered - a charge point with a cable attached with either a Type 1 or Type 2 connector

Note: The cable you use to charge at home or carry with you to charge at public charging points will have a Type 1 or Type 2 plug on one end that fits with your vehicles connection. A Type 1 plug is a 5-pin design and has a latch that keeps the plug in place to prevent it from being dislodged from the charger socket, while the Type 2 models, with 7-pin design, do not have these latches. Instead, the vehicles that have Type 2 plugs have a locking pin that locates and secures the plug in place (see below images).

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Charging rates

Charging locations

Charging at a public charging facility

Public charge points are a great way to charge when you need a top-up or are travelling extended distances from home. Most public charge points offer a mix of slow, fast and rapid charging options. There are many public and private charge points available for use across North Yorkshire, and more are added to the network regularly. For details on charge point locations, please see:

• Zap Map EV charging locations
• National Chargepoint Registry

Charging at home

Most electric vehicles come with a cable you can plug in with a normal 13amp socket. This makes charging an EV reasonably straight forward for properties with access to off-street parking. We do however, recommend that a dedicated charging unit is used where possible, and you refer to the vehicle’s handbook for any instructions for the use of cables, including extension cables before charging.

For installation of an electric vehicle charge point (EVCP) on private property, we recommend you review your land ownership plans to ensure you are not impacted by publicly maintainable highway for which the Local Authority is responsible. If necessary, you can obtain a quote to provide a connection to the parking space(s)

from your electricity provider; this can usually be done on their website. It is important to consider public safety and existing legislation when placing the cable from the power supply at the property to your vehicle. Any legal liability arising from the placement of the cable is your responsibility. You may wish to speak to your insurer to confirm that your insurance policy covers this situation. Residents that do not have access to off-street parking are unable to charge their vehicle on the street. The particular difficulties with the installation of on-street charge points or direct charging from a property to a vehicle parked on-street are:

• North Yorkshire Council do not permit trailing cables across the footway or carriageway, including the use of pavement drainage channels or a cable protector. Neither of these options are permitted as per the Highways Act. Under the Highways Act 1980, Part 4 Lawful and Unlawful Interference with Highways and Streets, it is illegal for any person to place or run a cable or wire along or across a public highway. Having the cable trail from your home, across the pavement to your car will cause a safety hazard, a cable across the ground can limit accessibility of the footway and can impact negatively on people with disabilities. If a passer-by injures themselves due to your cable, you can be held responsible.
• installing an on-street EV charge point, be it within a residential street or town centre, requires a dedicated parking bay to be made available to ensure it is used only by electric vehicles when charging. A driver would be required to seek alternative parking when the charge is complete or the maximum stay time reached.
• a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) is required setting out the terms of its use i.e. maximum time a vehicle can park/charge and the associated tariffs for the electricity etc. To ensure compliance and maximising the opportunity for its use, there would need to be regular enforcement which could not be resourced, particularly within residential areas.

NYC are currently in the process of developing an On Street Charging Policy, details of which will be available in early 2024. This will outline our recommended approach to implementing an On Street Charging Infrastructure. Options that are being considered include using nearby council owned land to create charging hubs. We are aware of a number of trials being undertaken by other local Authorities to overcome issues associated with trailing charging cables across the footway or carriageway. The findings of these trials will be reviewed as part of our On Street Charging Policy.

Charging at work – for employers

Charging at work offers a great alternative to public charging and is a convenient way to recharge during the day. Employers offering charging facilities can help to increase awareness and encourage early uptake of EVs within their companies.

Businesses, charities and local authorities can take advantage of the Workplace Charging Scheme (see below), which makes the cost of installing charge points more affordable. Also, with companies being incentivised to reduce their carbon emissions, workplace charging can go a long way to helping businesses meet their CO2 emissions targets.

The Government has several grant schemes to help enable the charging of EVs at home, in the workplace and on local streets. At the time of writing, we are aware of the following grant funding opportunities:

• Chargepoint grant for renters and flat owners
• Chargepoint and infrastructure grant for business staff and fleet car parks
• Chargepoint and infrastructure grant for landlords, including car parks
• Workplace Charging Scheme
• Electric vehicle chargepoint and infrastructure grant guidance for installers - GOV.UK

Community Groups Information (including Parish and Town Councils)

The Council does not have any grant funding to support community groups at this time. We are also making plans to deliver EVCP’s in rural areas through the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) fund (see section 6 for more information). If you are interested in taking part in this pilot scheme then please write to us at LTP@northyorks.gov.uk with the following information:

1. Do you have a building with a south facing roof and how many car parking bays to you have?
2. Do you have a building with a stream/watercourse nearby or bordering your boundary?
3. Are you willing to host a pilot project for renewable energy and EV charging points?

We are at the beginning of this project and have pre-selected 14 sites to take part in this scheme, however, we need to examine these sites for suitability which may mean there are opportunities for other locations to take part. We also hope to roll out the scheme more widely in future, so your responses will help us create a long list of sites and interested parties.

Parish and Town Councils could install an EVCP at their council owned car park for public use. There are different business models available, including options that will be free to the council, with the EVCP supplier paying for the installation, maintenance and running costs and the council in effect leasing its space to the supplier. In some instances, the council will receive a percentage of the income from the public EVCPs. If you are from a City, Parish or Town Council and wish to explore this further, we recommend that you contact some local suppliers and find out what business models they offer. Landowner's permission is required before installing EV Charge Points. Many installers offer a free site survey to enable you to find out whether your site is suitable.

Parish and Town Councils could access some government grant funding through the On Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) subject to the grant type and meeting the criteria. Councils must also be granted a General Power of Competence by the Local Authority, visit On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme guidance for local authorities to find out more.

We have developed a countywide Electric Vehicle (EV) Infrastructure Rollout Strategy, which was adopted by North Yorkshire Council on 2nd May 2023. The strategy builds upon the previous Electric Vehicle Charge Point (EVCP) Deployment Study (2020) and work undertaken by NYC concerning the climate change agenda.

In the Electric Vehicle Charge Point Deployment Study (2020) we established how many charge points we need between now and 2030 (in line with the Government’s intent to ban the sale of new cars or vans with an internal combustion engine from 2030) and what the barriers there are to delivering EV Infrastructure in North Yorkshire which included:

• grid constraints/capacity and associated grid connection costs
• the rural nature of large parts of North Yorkshire
• the 21% of properties in North Yorkshire without access to off-street parking

The next phase of work includes site selection and overcoming any barriers to delivery. To do this, we are creating new policies to allow public charging points to be added in on-street locations. We aim to have this work completed in early 2024.

The electric vehicle infrastructure strategy states that we need 3161 public charge points by 2030 to meet demand and that the council will need to deliver half of this requirement. It identifies ten priority measures to help us meet our vision and key objectives. We will use the strategy as our guide for network planning across North Yorkshire, which will lead to mass rollout of EVCPs. It will also be an important supplementary document for our Local Transport Plan.

UK Government has created several grant schemes to help local authorities deliver the infrastructure needed to enable the charging of Electric Vehicles (EVs). These grants will enable us to deliver on our commitment to supporting our residents, visitors and businesses to make the switch to electric vehicles. The Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) is a £400m scheme operated by the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) and this will be our primary source of funding.

In August 2022 North Yorkshire Council made a successful bid to the LEVI pilot fund. We secured £2m to install charging points in deeply rural areas. This pilot scheme is based around the idea of using a system of renewable energy supplies to generate the required power locally and store it in batteries. The idea behind this is to reduce the high grid connection costs associated with these locations. This will be tested at 14 sites across the county and will trial different combinations of renewable generation, including solar, wind and hydropower.

In addition to this, a further £1.237m was secured to install charging points in the former Scarborough and Richmondshire districts. These sites have been selected to support residents with no off-street parking to enable them to consider the switch to electric vehicles.

The Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) announced the LEVI capital fund in March 2023 with an indicative allocation for North Yorkshire. This will enable rollout of charging points across the county, focusing on residential areas and the needs of residents. This supports our strategy of encouraging and enabling the transition to electric vehicles and reducing the carbon emissions of road transport in North Yorkshire. We are in the process of bidding for this funding and will shortly begin procurement for a delivery partner.