BCP charges more than anywhere else to recharge EVs

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council charge more to recharge electric cars than any other council in the UK. 

Together with Cotswolds District Council, BCP-owned charging points require residents to fork out £4 per kWh to fill up their electric car. 

By comparison, neighbouring Southampton City Council’s electric car charging points costs nothing to use. 

Simon Bull, of the BCP Green Party, said: “BCP Council should be encouraging and supporting the transition to electric vehicles through the provision of charging points.  

“I would not look for the council to subsidise the cost of charging for the end user, but also not to exploit the need for such charging points, I am suggesting a fair price for the service/electricity.  

Electric vehicle sales will only increase in the future, Mr Bull questions how residents of the area will charge their car when there is no off-road parking. “Perhaps society will move away from the current vehicle ownership/sole use model,” he said. 

EV owners across the UK face a ‘postcode lottery’ when it comes to the cost of charging their cars. 

BCP Council has a total of seven rapid charging points across the area. By comparison, Southampton City Council has 44. 

Calls are being made for the council to install more EV charging stations. In 2020, the government announced they would ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030, and hybrids to be phased out by 2035, as part of their ‘green industrial revolution’ to accelerate quicker towards net zero. 

As well as this, the government will invest £1.8billion into charging infrastructure – focusing more on rapid charging points. 

But Mr Bull suggests there needs to be more of a focus on making public transport more accessible.  

He said: “There is so much that could be done differently. 

“In relation to vehicles, in my opinion, a faster transition away from ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles is possible and desirable.  

“Working with the bus and train companies to improve public transport, making it more attractive to use.  

“Reducing the access for vehicles to the town centres with provision for disabled access.”