Pavement charging hookup for electric vehicles

Many homes in Aberdeen have no driveways or garages where electric charger points can be fitted. Our house in Abergeldie Road is one such example.

In August 2024 I wrote to my councillor Ian Yuill, to see if I could route a cable under the pavement to a street bollard, so that in future I could charge an electric vehicle (EV). Ian kindly forwarded my enquiry to Alan Simpson, Planning department, Aberdeen City Council, Town House, Broad St, Aberdeen, AB10 1FY.

In my request I stated that: –

• I was willing to pay to install a charger bollard myself, using Trojan Energy, Hareness Road, Aberdeen. AB12 3LED.
• Cost of our electricity is 27p/kWh; cost at Holburn Junction charger (0.5 mi), is 47p, 1.74 times as expensive.
• With home charging I could benefit from cheaper night-rate electricity available from certain utilities at about 9p/kWh. The Holburn charge rate is 5.2 times this rate.
• As the number of EVs increase, my car and other cars’ batteries can be utilised to supply the grid when solar or wind energy is not available. This assumes EVs are hooked up to the bollard when not being used.
• If roadside bollards are not permitted, front gardens will increasingly be converted into driveways, with loss of amenity and possibly drainage problems.

ACC Response

Alan’s response was a firm no. ACC’s approach was to provide charging stations, separate from houses as at Holburn junction. He suggested that there were safety concerns with putting cables under the pavement. There would be issues with potential users regarding the ownership or sharing of pavement charging points. The council’s strategy is to focus on installing EV charging points in central locations. £6.8 m of Government funding has already been sourced to contribute to this. Will this investment give people like me what they want, or will it become a white elephant?

In regard to homeowners putting in driveways, there are many circumstances in which these will not be permitted. From the photo above, it looks as if more recent houses will be allowed driveways while older granite houses will not.

Developments elsewhere

The photo opposite shows an EV charging bollard in Maynooth, Dublin, mounted in a communal parking area adjacent to domestic housing. Houses without charging facilities would lose value compared to those that have.

Government strategy

The government’s strategy is for sales of zero emission vehicles to be 80% of total car sales by 2030 and 100% by 2035. Low energy costs using smart meters and night tariffs, convenience of nearby charging, and potential to sell power back to the grid, will greatly enhance EV take up.

My personal situation

Lack of a charging facility caused me to replace my 2012 polluting diesel vehicle with a second-hand LEZ compliant petrol car, rather than an EV.  I have little incentive to buy an more expensive EV, purchase energy 5.2 times that available from my own electricity provider,  and sit twice a week for two hours on a cold February day waiting for my car to charge.

Aberdeen City Council responsibilities

ACC’s position is not compatible with the government targets for transition to EVs, is directing investment to charging facilities unsuited to potential EV owners’ needs, and at a pace unsuited to the urgency with which climate action is now needed given how late we have left it to respond to the decades-long warnings.

Bob Pringle