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DCC Electric Charge Points
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: Installed Charge Point Locations
Payment
All new EVCPs over 8kW in power from 24 November 2024 will be fitted with a payment terminal for contactless payment. Any Chargers from 22kW that were installed before this date will be retrofitted in the near future to allow for contactless payment. When there is no Payment Terminal the manufactures App will be needed.
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 Local Network 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 Local Network Funded Project. It was awarded £90K through ORCs (On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme) and, the Local Network 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.
Level Up Fund
DCC were awarded funding from Transport North East/North East Combined Authority to identify and install at 8 locations across County Durham – installations are beginning September 2024 and should be complete early 2025. Sites identified needs to present value for money and will aim to deliver as many charge points as possible with the funding available.
LEVI Pilot Project
DCC received one of the largest amounts of LEVI grant funding nationwide to design and implement a new step change model which will see a new way of appointing a charge point operator and running the EV charging network which will reduce risk and increase revenue to DCC to reinvest into the charging network. £4.3m was awarded to deliver 250 x EV charge points, with a mixture of fast, rapid and super fast charge points (22kw/50kw/120kw). The first installations have commenced August 2024.
LEVI (further funding)
DCC has applied, via the North East Combined Authority, for a further circa £3m to install approximately 200x EVCP via lease agreements on housing association land. Further details on the application are expected later in the year with installations to commence 2025.
Cross Pavement Charging Solutions
We recognise that the most convenient and cost effective way to charge an electric vehicle is from home, overnight. In order to do so, residents without offstreet parking must have permission to install a home charger and permission to cross the footway/pavement with a charging cable. DCC are working on solutions to allow this to happen and a report into a trial and products should be complete towards the end of 2024. Until that time DCC can not approve the installation of any home charging which may cause a trip hazard by crossing the footway.