Electric vehicles

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The number of electric vehicles on our streets is increasing as more drivers  change from petrol and diesel cars  to electric. Helping residents to make this transition is an important part of our plans to improve air quality and reduce carbon emissions.  As most residents cannot install their own electric vehicle chargers, we know that we must provide charging points on-street.

Charging points in the borough

As of August 2026, we have:

  • three rapid chargers
  • 311 TotalEnergies fast charging points
  • almost 700 lamp column chargers

This means that practically all residents are within 200 metres of a charging point and over 90 per cent of residents are within 100 metres.

All our EV chargers are at a height that makes them accessible to wheelchair users.

Find a charging point with the Zapmap website

TotalEnergies charging points

All TotalEnergies charging points are in dedicated EV recharging only bays.

There is no need to pay a separate parking fee when charging in these bays. 

Most sites have two 22kw charging points, but some sites have one 7kw and one 22kw, and a very small number of sites have just one 7kw charging point.

TotalEnergies offers a discounted rate for members charging in their own borough as well as a pay as you go rate. You can sign up for a resident membership on the TotalEnergies website.

Lamp column charging points

These charging points are sockets in existing lamp columns. They are operated by Ubitricity/Shell Recharge and offer a 5kw charge.

You can find information on tariffs and pricing on their website.

​Lamp column chargers are located in lamp columns, generally  next to residents’ bays and pay-by-phone visitor parking bays. Some lamp column chargers have dedicated resident EV recharging bays.

Parking charges and maximum stay requirements apply in the pay-by-phone visitor parking bays during controlled hours which are usually:

8.30am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday

8.30am to 1.30pm or 8.30am to 6.30pm on Saturday depending on location

Check signs as there are some exceptions. However, most electric vehicle users use the lamp column chargers at night when parking is free.

Resident permit holders can also park free of charge in pay-by-phone visitor parking bays between:

  • 8.30am and 9.30am and between 5.30pm and 6.30pm Monday to Saturday (where controls still apply).

This means that if you are a resident, you can leave your car from 5.30pm until 9.30am the following morning free of parking charges but if you want to park during pay-by-phone visitor parking controlled hours, you will have to pay.

Non-residents will need to pay during all the pay-by-phone visitor parking controlled hours.

We are building a network of lamp column chargers across the borough but not all lamp columns are suitable. We cannot install chargers in Kensington Vestry Heritage style columns or any other columns that are within 15 metres of other electrical equipment, on narrow pavements or which are not in reach of a parking bay. There are also other non-visible restrictions such as underground services that we cannot be aware of until our contractors carry out surveys.

Rapid chargers

The three rapid chargers in the borough are in Oakley Street, Symons Street, and Russell Gardens.  All rapid charger sites have dedicated EV bays.

These are operated by BP Pulse and provide 50kw of power. See the BP Pulse website for more information.

Reporting a faulty charger

If you find a fault with a charge point, report this directly to the operator. This will ensure that faults are properly logged and tracked all the way to resolution. Do not attempt to use a charge point if you see any signs of damage.

Ubitricity/Shell Recharge

TotalEnergies

BP Pulse

Complete the contact form on their website, telephone 0330 016 5126 or email [email protected] 

Future installations

We have successfully secured government funding to procure more lamp column and rapid charging points, and we intend to install these chargers at locations throughout the borough.

Residents' parking permits for electric vehicles

Residents’ parking permits for electric vehicles are charged at the lowest permit tariff.

Residents can only have one permit for one car. Although electric vehicles do not produce emissions at the point of use, they still take up parking space which is in short supply in the borough and are therefore subject to the second and subsequent permit surcharge which applies to households which have more than one car.

Visitor parking for electric vehicles

We offer discounted rates for visitors with electric vehicles in pay by phone bays, see our tariffs webpage.

Charging on Council Estates

We do not currently have any on-Estate electrical vehicle charging available to our residents, however, we are currently looking into this as a priority.

If you would like to register your interest in using on-Estate electrical vehicle charging let us know by emailing your name, address, vehicle registration, make and model to [email protected].

Charging from your home

We do not allow residents to run cables from their homes across the footway to charge their electric vehicles as it is an offence under the Highways Act 1980 to place objects on the public highway that could present a hazard to other road users.

We are aware that there is a price advantage to home charging and that those without a private parking space cannot access these lower prices. As a Council we have investigated solutions to this problem, including the installation of cable gullies in our pavements. 

Unfortunately, there are no cross-pavement charging solutions that are acceptable to the Council at this time. The mass adoption of cable gullies installed in our pavements would have a significant impact on our pavement maintenance regime. As more and more cable gullies are installed there would also likely be significant aesthetic implications to the streetscape. Furthermore, we have doubts about the suitability of cross-pavement charging in a borough where residents often cannot park outside their homes and therefore would not be able to utilise cross-pavement charging. We will continue to focus on the provision of public charging points.

Contact information

If you have any other queries relating to EV charging points, email [email protected].

Last updated: 13 August 2026