£100,000 boost for electric vehicles in Portsmouth

Electric vehicle charging points are planned to be available in residential streets in Portsmouth, encouraging more people to switch to low emission vehicles.

The funding follows the council's successful bid for £100,000 from the government's Onstreet Residential Chargepoint Scheme, which helps with the costs of installing the charging points across cities to encourage more residents to consider switching to low-emission vehicles.

Despite growing nationwide popularity, only 75 vehicles registered in Portsmouth are electric. However, hybrid vehicles are more popular with 7,000 registered in the city.

In addition to the residential charging points, which residents would pay to use, the council is also planning to install three free charging points at car parks around the city on a trial basis.

Simon Bosher, cabinet member for Traffic and Transportation at the council, said: "We are delighted with our successful bid for funding. In a city like Portsmouth where not many people have the luxury of off-street parking it would be difficult to consider owning an electric vehicle. We hope that by installing charging points in some residential streets we will make it easier for residents to switch to an electric or hybrid vehicle and help reduce pollution."

Roads Minister Jesse Norman said: "We need a widespread and reliable charging network for electric vehicles if we are to meet our ambition that nearly all new cars and vans on our roads will be zero emission by 2040. We have already made good progress. Thanks to government leadership, local authority engagement and a fast growing private sector, the UK now has over 11,000 publicly accessible chargepoints. I am delighted that Portsmouth have taken this initiative to improve chargepoint infrastructure in their area, and I hope other local authorities will apply to our On-street Residential Chargepoint Scheme.”