A NEW rapid electric vehicle charging point (EVCP) was recently unveiled near the train station in town and Mendip and Frome town councillor, Drew Gardner, says Mendip District Council should have installed these fast-charging points throughout the district.
Instead cllr Gardner says that the nine EVCP that Mendip have started to install this summer in Frome will be significantly slower at charging vehicles than the one at Station Approach and it’s a ‘real shame’ that the fast-charging points won’t be available throughout the district.
“I’ve been campaigning for the last four years to get high-speed electric car charging points installed in Frome and we’ve finally had them installed at Station Approach near Rye Bakery,” said cllr Gardener.
“The chargers that Mendip are installing throughout the county take seven to eight hours to fully charge a vehicle – the ones I proposed can charge a car up fully in just 40 mins depending on the size of the battery. I’m happy for Frome, but we could have had a lot better!”
Mendip DC say that their EVCP will be available to use from the Autumn with a view to ‘consider’ rapid chargers a year after installation.
A statement from Mendip DC reads, “Mendip District Council is installing 43 EVCPs across 13 council-owned car parks.
“More than one fifth of our total allocation will be located in car parks in Frome (nine chargers). They are at Cattle Market (three chargers) North Parade (three chargers) and at Badcox (three chargers).
“Groundworks have already been completed in Cattle Market car park, and these works will continue in earnest at our other locations throughout the summer. Following this ‘first fix’, all EVCPs will be installed and functional in the autumn.
“This is new and evolving technology. There’s a commitment, one-year post-installation, to undertake a review of all sites. This exercise will establish the best locations. And depending on the usage of the phase-one installation units, will inform as to whether we expand the current 22kW range, or consider rapid chargers (50 – 150KW), if required.
“The project cost is £445,000. Of which, 75% was obtained through the OZEV grant funding, with the remaining 25% being supplied through the partners, EB-Charging. Mendip District Council has not financed this initiative.”
Cllr Gardner added, “In eight years, you won’t be able to buy a new internal combustion engine car so that mean the public services and taxis will all be going electric which means they need a quick charge to get on with their day.
“The EVCP was officially unveiled last month (week of 11th July) and was opened by the Mayor of Frome. It’s great we have it in town but the rest of the district will miss out on these rapid charging points.”
A list of locations for the EVCPs is available www.mendip. gov.uk/article/10895/Electric-vehicle-EV-charging-points.
