Durham County Council (DCC) are committed to support the uptake of Electric Vehicles across County Durham and due to the sale of new Petrol and Diesel cars being halted in 2035 as well as the UK aiming to be Net Zero by 2050, DCC are building up it’s Electric Vehicle Charge Point (EVCP) infrastructure. 40% of residents in County Durham don’t have off-street parking which creates a hesitation to take up Electric Vehicles for our residents due to the difficulties that arise from not being able to charge at home.
To help with this the Low Carbon and Economy (LCE), Electric Vehicle Team for Durham County Council, along with an assortment of stakeholders across County Durham are highlighting EVCP locations in high demand or identifying locations that have the potential to become higher demand areas. Additionally, DCC are aiming to have EVCPs within a 5-minute walk for these residents. Below is some information for the Electric Vehicle Charge Point Projects that have taken place.
More Projects are in progress, so please check back to see the increasing amount of EVCPs across DCC.
If you’re interested in an EV charge point in your community area and have a suggested location, or if you need to report a fault, you can email: EVCharging@durham.gov.uk
WebMap: Check the current: Proposed Charge Point Locations
SOSCI (Scaling on Street Charging Infrastructure)
Durham County Council has won funding from Innovate UK to install Electric Vehicle Charge Points (EVCPs) across the more rural areas of County Durham. The SOSCI project will support County Durham residents who can’t buy an electric vehicle because they don’t have off-street parking to charge it. Promoting the take-up of electric vehicles will help reduce air pollution and CO2 emissions as well as allowing people to save money on fuel costs.
DOCs – (Durham Own Charge Point Sites)
Durham County Council was awarded 75% funding from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) to install more EVCPs across County Durham. The remaining 25% money is to be a combination of DCC funds and community funding, from Parish Councils and Area Action Partnership Groups yearly budgets.
The sites will give Parish Councils an opportunity to invest in their areas, getting them a step ahead following the Government’s ban on the selling of new petrol and diesel cars from 2035. If the local community wishes to assist with the fund raising this can be managed as a social investment and has tax benefits for the investor and revenues can be shared with the community.
Derwent Valley (DV)
Derwent Valley is an On-street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCs) and Area Action Partnership (AAP) Funded Project. It was awarded £90K through ORCs (On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme) and, the AAP in Derwent Valley have sourced £30,000 and along with the Car Club in the area have helped us identify Derwent Valley based sites that were in ideal locations for Public Accessible Electric Vehicle Charge Points (EVCP).
WEVA (Weardale Electric Vehicle Accelerator)
Durham County Council secured funding from OLEV (Office of Low Emission Vehicles) to run a trial into ways to encourage the take up of Electric Vehicles (EVs) in rural communities. The project will seek to solve the conundrum of how to encourage people to switch to EVs if they have no charge points near their home and no off-street parking to install their own Charge Point.
This is a national problem for rural areas and the results of the WEVA (Weardale Electric Vehicle Accelerator) project will have a UK-wide focus.
Regional Electric Vehicle Unified Plan (REVUP)
The principle aim of REVUP is to learn and share best practice and to develop a process to enable regional Local Authorities and other public sector bodies (e.g. emergency services) to collaborate on applications to the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) and apply for funding to install hundreds/thousands of EVCPs to effect a proper regional coverage. In addition to the funding applications, REVUP will help deliver a common standard for the identification, costing and installation of EVCPs. A lot of the findings and potential locations from this project we taken forward into the larger SOCSI Project.
For further information visit the REVUP website.