THREE electric car charging points have been installed in Huntingdonshire to encourage more people to buy and use the green vehicles.
In response to a Government incentive, Huntingdonshire District Council has spent almost £7,500 on the charging points at the Cattle Market car park, St Ives, Riverside car park, St Neots, and Bridge Place car park, Godmanchester. The fee includes maintenance for five years.
A Government grant covered 75 per cent of the cost, with HDC paying the remainder, about £1,800.
Environment team leader at HDC Chris Jablonski said the points were introduced earlier this year.
He told The Hunts Post: “It is a chicken and the egg situation. Many people have said the obstruction to buying an electric car was the lack of points near where they work or visit people where they can charge the cars.
“It’s a good thing that we can be part of providing a good network of electric car charging points to encourage more people to use electric cars.”
Each charging point allows two vehicles to be charged at a time and are free to the user as they are subsidised by operators Evaluate, although there may be a small charge in the future.
Mr Jablonski said: “We’re not sure how many people have used the points so far but I expect it’s quite a small number at the moment.
“We will find out later this year when a six-month report is compiled.
“There are no figures for the number of electric cars in Huntingdonshire but the latest figures I have seen nationwide show that ownership numbers have increased significantly, albeit from a small base.
“I admit that if it wasn’t for the Government scheme then we probably wouldn’t have introduced them, but it is a good way of encouraging people to use electric cars through providing a better network.”
Huntingdonshire already had four charging points – one each at Ramsey’s Tesco, the Environment Agency regional headquarters in Brampton, Huntingdon Racecourse and Wyboston Lakes.
Brian Payton, director of business development at Wyboston Lakes, said its two points, installed last July by Evaluate, had limited success.
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