Electric vehicle charging

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

• cheaper running costs as, thanks to fewer moving parts, electric cars need less maintenance and servicing is much simpler 
• improved air quality and reduced carbon emissions, as battery electric vehicles 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 

Charging type connectors 

• 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 vehicle’s 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 keeps the plug secure and in place. 

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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
• 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 electric vehicle reasonably straight forward for properties with access to off street parking. We 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 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 street. The difficulties with the installation of on-street charge points or direct charging from a property to a vehicle parked on-street are:

• installing an on-street electric vehicle 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 is required setting out the terms of its use, such as the maximum time a vehicle can park or charge and the associated tariffs for the electricity. 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 
• for safety reasons, we do not support the charging of vehicles parked on-street from residential properties that would require the cable to cross the footway or carriageway and which would likely create a hazard to other road or footway users. This includes a situation where a cable cover or similar is used 

We are aware of a number of trials being undertaken by local authorities elsewhere in the country to overcome issues associated with trailing charging cables across the footway or carriageway. The findings of these trials will be used to inform a review of our policy. 

We have no immediate plan to roll out on-street charging infrastructure on a large scale or in response to individual requests for on-street charge points. However, we are in the process of developing an electric vehicle charge point delivery strategy which will identify a series of actions we and our partners should be taking to rollout electric vehicle infrastructure on mass to accommodate the anticipated accelerated electric vehicle uptake. 

This is in line with the government’s decision to ban the sale of new vehicles with an internal combustion engine in 2030. The strategy will make a recommendation of how many, where and how to deliver the required number of charge points by 2030. Additionally there will be a policy review, which is required to overcome challenges associated with delivering on-street charge points. This work commenced on 18 October 2021 and will take 6-12 months to deliver, regular progress updates will be provided on this page (see accordion 6).

We are taking the time now to ensure we deliver accessible, effective, futureproofed infrastructure in the most appropriate locations before making such a significant investment.

We will continue to review the overall situation, considering demand from residents (location suggestions are welcome, see accordion 6) and funding availability, including external grant funding.

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 uptake of electric vehicles within their companies. 

Businesses, charities and local authorities can take advantage of the workplace charging scheme, 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 electronic vehicles at home, in the workplace and on local streets. See the full list of grant schemes for electric vehicle charging infrastructure on the UK government website.

• The EV chargepoint grant provides funding of up to 75% towards the cost of installing electric vehicle smart chargepoints at domestic properties across the UK. It replaced the electric vehicle homecharge scheme on 1 April 2022. 
• The workplace charging scheme grant is a voucher-based scheme open to businesses, charities and public sector organisations to support the upfront cost of EVCPs. The grant provides a up to a maximum of £350 for each socket, up to a maximum of 40 across all sites for each applicant 
• The on street residential chargepoint scheme for local authorities, provides 75% of the capital costs of procuring and installing the chargepoint and an associated dedicated parking bay. Parish and town councils could access some government grant funding through the on street residential chargepoint scheme subject to the grant type and meeting the criteria. More information is available on the on-street residential chargepoint scheme guidance for local authorities page on the government website. 

We are developing a countywide electric vehicle infrastructure rollout strategy. It is intended that the strategy build upon the previous electric vehicle charge point deployment study (2020) and work undertaken by us 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 decision to ban the sale of new cars or vans with an internal combustion engine from 2030, and what the barriers there are to delivering electric vehicle Infrastructure in North Yorkshire which included: 

• grid constraints and capacity and associated grid connection costs 
• the rural nature of large parts of North Yorkshire 
• the volume of on-street parking, particularly in residential areas 

The next phase of work is to establish where charge points should be located, how we can overcome barriers to delivery in context and what policy changes will need to take place to achieve this. This piece of work commenced in October 2021 and was completed in October 2022. 

The strategy identifies a series of priority measures to help us meet our vision and key objectives by 2030. We have launched a public consultation to get your support and views on these measures, which include a series of actions, to help shape the rollout of electric vehicle charging infrastructure and policy across the county.

We expect that public consultation will inform some changes to the actions, which will affect the final strategy. Following receipt of the final strategy document, our members will need to agree next steps including whether they wish to adopt the strategy and establish an electronic vehicle charging point budget. 

Following the adoption of the strategy, we will use it as our guide for network planning across North Yorkshire, which will lead to mass rollout of electronic vehicle charging points. It will also be an important supplementary document for our local transport plan. It is important to note that the contracts for electronic vehicle charging points that have already been developed by districts and boroughs, primarily in public car parks in market towns and urban centres, will novate to the new North Yorkshire Council as part of the local government reorganisation process and form a part of the network plans. 

The electric vehicle public charging infrastructure rollout strategy is a plan to 2030 which will be reviewed regularly.