As part of its commitment to tackle the climate emergency, Dorset Council are pleased to announce the successful completion of their Phase 1 electric vehicle (EV) chargepoint installation programme.
Phase 1 has seen the installation of 42 chargepoints (sockets) in 21 locations around the County and includes 5 replacement rapid chargers and one new rapid charger at the Langton Road Car Park in Blandford Forum. Use of the chargepoints has exceeded expectations and saved 51,000 kg in CO2e emissions when compared with petrol or diesel vehicle use.
The council are now busy planning for Phase 2, which could see up to 44 more fast chargers (sockets) and excitingly 7 more rapid chargers at 24 new locations around the county. Several of these rapid chargers are expected to be 150kW ultra-rapid chargers, capable of providing 200 miles of driving range in about the same time as it takes to enjoy a cup of coffee.
Most of the Phase 2 sites will once more be in Dorset Council run public car parks, but the council are also starting to explore ways to get chargepoints installed in villages, in joint projects involving local residents. This will go some way to addressing the challenge of providing affordable charging for households without access to suitable off-street parking and will help the council move closer to the short term goal of every Dorset household being within 5 miles of a public charge point by 2023.
The chargepoints are a joint project with award winning chargepoint installers Joju Charging and Mer who have pledged at least £0.5m to Phase 2 of the programme. Dorset Council have access to the Government’s on-street residential charging scheme (ORCS) and will be using this to fund a number of the new sites.
Dorset Council’s public car park based chargepoints are now even easier to use. Customers can use any charge card for the rapid chargers and, as well as Mer’s own easy to use app, they have teamed up with a number of data roaming style mobility payment partners including NewMotion, Allstar One Electric, Electric Juice Network, Paua and Zap Pay. Despite the current energy crisis, Mer have not increased their prices to charge.
Cllr Ray Bryan, Dorset Council’s Portfolio Holder for Highways, Travel and Environment, said:
“With sales of new petrol and diesel cars set to be banned by 2030, it’s essential that we expand the charging infrastructure to support electric vehicles. The use of electric vehicles continues to grow rapidly, and we can already see the benefit that EV infrastructure plays in building drivers’ confidence and encouraging people to switch to cleaner modes of transport.
“We are making sure Dorset Council plays its part in helping to tackle the Climate and Ecological Emergency. The installation of new chargepoints is one of a number of measures needed to support the shift towards more sustainable travel and our commitment to becoming carbon-neutral.”
For more information on public charging points in Dorset, including vehicle charging costs and existing locations of all public charging points, visit: dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/electric-vehicle-charge-points
Why not promote locations with a map and easy to find postcode and address markers to click on. We need to see the progress to start thinking about how we can buy an electric car and know for sure where we can a charge when visiting friends around the county.
Hi, thanks for your comment. We recommend using Zap Map, which shows the locations of all public charging points. You can also search by area or postcode: https://www.zap-map.com/live/
We need more chargers with contactless payment. I noticed the Mer chargers in Bridport and Dorchester have had notices on them for a while saying contactless coming soon
If everyone had an electric car, how many charging points would be needed to service such, and how much real estate would this require. can the grid provide such demand in the future, and what will provide this demand. what happens when every electric car owner charges their vehicle when they get home at end of day. This are just a few of the unsustainable issues with going with a knee jerk reaction of electric cars, short term gain without long term strategy/sustainability. How long will batteries last what is the cost to the environment of such.
Hydrogen technology would be a better solution, but with little investment and lack of vision for all the potential renewable solutions, we could end up in a transportation crisis.
In the Council’s intended exploration of extending the provision of chargers to villages, may Cerne Abbas Village Hall register its interest in being a possible site, please. The Hall is also adjacent to an earlier WDDC car park now owned by Cerne Valley Parish Council (CVPC). The infrastructure is already in place from the Hall to possibly site a charger in this car park as another option. The Hall is the centre of community activity away from the car-crowded roads in the village and could be the obvious site for chargers, to be used for example while attending a function at the Hall, but also attracting the interest of the many visitors to the area. We would need to work through CVPC on this, but they have been alerted to the possibility of a combined project in this respect.
Hi, thank you for your comment, I’ll pass this along to the Transport Planning team. You can also use the online to suggest a new changepoint location: https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/parking/parking/electric-vehicle-charge-points#suggest
In the Council’s intended exploration of extending the provision of chargers to villages, may Cerne Abbas Village Hall register its interest in being a possible site, please. The Hall is also adjacent to an earlier WDDC car park now owned by Cerne Valley Parish Council (CVPC). The infrastructure is already in place from the Hall to possibly site a charger in this car park as another option. The Hall is the centre of community activity away from the car-crowded roads in the village and could be the obvious site for chargers, to be used for example while attending a function at the Hall, but also attracting the interest of the many visitors to the area. We would need to work through CVPC on this, but they have been alerted to the possibility of a combined project in this respect.
When will the existing ChargerNet rapid chargers be replaced. The current units have not worked for several years – see comments on ZapMap. I understand they will be eventually be replaced but how long is this going to take. The charging infrastructure in the Poole and Bournmouth area is dreadful, can we have more sites with multiple chargers that work please.
Hi David, thank you for your comment. We are responsible for the charging infrastructure for the Dorset Council area – for information or to give feedback about chargers in Poole and Bournemouth you would need to contact BCP Council. You can find details here: https://www.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/Roads-and-transport/Cars/Chargernet.aspx
You can report issues with chargers in the Dorset Council area here: https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/parking/parking/electric-vehicle-charge-points#reportaproblem