Nearly nine out of 10 people (88%) support government plans for “charging gullies” which allow residents in terraced houses to charge electric cars at home by running cables under pavements.
September’s Startline Used Car Tracker shows 62% think the move will make it practical for people in terraces to buy an electric car and 37% that it will enable them to access cheaper home charging.
Also, 31% say it is a simple and effective solution that’s easily installed and 16% that it will stop people trailing cables across pavements.
Objections are limited with 6% pointing out that people in terraces often can’t park directly outside their home to access gully charging, 3% that installation will cause disruption and 2% that the current £25 million allocated by the government is not enough money to make a national impact.
Currenty, cables across a pavement would be seen as trip hazards so underground cables to a box on the kerb would be safer but this raises issues about who pays, council planning and compliance standards and might require a change in the law to protect a dedicated parking space for a motorist outside their home. It is not necessarily the solution for flat dwellers.
Paul Burgess, CEO at Startline Motor Finance, said, “Around a quarter of people in the UK live in terraced houses with no access to off-road parking and therefore nowhere to install an electric car charger. That makes it effectively impossible for them to give up their existing petrol and diesel cars without having to use expensive public chargers.
“Charging gullies are a simple and effective solution to this, and the £25 million allocated by the government should go some way to helping people living in these homes to electrify in the future, being able to charge their cars using low-cost, domestic power.
“As our data shows, there are very few objections to this move but some people do correctly identify that drivers aren’t always able to park directly outside their home, and this is an issue that is not easily overcome.”
