EV charging points 'to top 100,000 by 2020'

THERE will be more than 10 times the number of electric car charging points as petrol stations by 2020 – and that’s just one of the planned networks.

According to POD Point CEO Erik Fairbairn, the conditions are beginning to emerge to allow electric and plug-in hybrid cars to flourish, leading to an explosion in charge point installations in the coming years that could top 100,000 just in POD Point’s own infrastructure.

There are currently fewer than 9,000 petrol stations on British roads.

The belief is that electric vehicles (EVs) will be charged little and often, instead of repeatedly draining a full charge. Such a system will require a huge number of charge points all over urban and suburban areas.

“So far we have a public network of 1,200 EV charge bays, but this is a fraction of what we need,” said Mr Fairbairn.

“POD Point is built on vision that the way we will put ‘fuel’ into our cars in the future will be different to how we do so today. We will charge our cars whenever they are stopped – at home, at work, while we have a meeting, while we do our shopping, and so whenever we return to our cars, they will be full of electricity and ready to go.”

He continued: “We put charge points wherever we expect cars to be parked – in your home, at your work place, at your supermarket, on-street next to your meeting – and we have all of these charge points connected to the POD Point network, so you can always access them.”

POD Point’s unique approach allows individual EV owners to tell the company where they regularly park their car but can’t find a charging point. The firm can then approach the site directly and negotiate the installation of charging bays.

Mr Fairbairn explained: “We help our individual customers through our POD ‘Chains’. POD Chains are formed of the charge locations which an individual EV customer parks to complete their normal daily activities.

“Where there is a gap in a customer’s Chain, we ask them to inform us and we then approach that location. It is demand and consumer driven, and is a super effective way of growing our network.”

By Press Association reporter