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SWANSEA: Council trials on-street electric vehicle charging to help drivers without driveways

Swansea residents who park on the street are taking part in a pioneering trial that allows them to charge their electric vehicles outside their own homes – without creating a hazard for pedestrians walking past.

Swansea Council has teamed up with electric vehicle charging company Kerbo Charge to test an innovative solution for the growing number of EV owners who don’t have off-street parking. Ten households across the city have been selected to take part – following an open invitation to residents to register their interest last year – and have already had charging equipment installed at their properties.

The system works by cutting a shallow channel into the footway outside a resident’s home. A charging cable can then be fed from the home charger through the channel and across the pavement to the vehicle parked at the roadside – without leaving a cable lying across the pavement that could trip passers-by.

Stuart Davies, Swansea Council’s Head of Transport and Highways, said the trial was a response to the rapid growth of electric and hybrid vehicles on Welsh roads. “With the popularity of electric and hybrid vehicles increasing year on year, we know that we need to look at innovative new ways to enable all electric car owners to easily charge their cars,” he said.

He acknowledged that while many Swansea residents with driveways can already charge at home, those without off-street parking have been left relying on public charging points. “Residents that do not have a driveway or off-street parking at their homes have to rely on public charging points,” he said.

The council has expanded its public charging network in recent years, adding fast-charging points at council-owned car parks and on-street locations across the city to complement the wider commercial EV charging network. But the Kerbo Charge trial aims to go further – giving residents without driveways the same convenience as those who can charge at home overnight.

Davies said the trial would allow the council to assess whether the system could be rolled out more widely. “This trial will give us the opportunity to work with residents and Kerbo Charge and test this method of on-street charging to see the potential benefits and see if it is something we can develop further in the future,” he said.

Kerbo Charge has developed the channel solution specifically to address one of the biggest barriers to EV adoption in urban areas – the lack of home charging for the significant proportion of households without off-street parking.

The trial is being funded by the Welsh Government with support from Transport for Wales, as part of Wales’s wider push to support the transition to electric vehicles.

Swansea is not the only Welsh council exploring new approaches to EV charging infrastructure, but the Kerbo Charge technology represents one of the more inventive solutions to the pavement cable problem that has long made kerbside charging difficult to implement safely.

Households across the city were invited to register their interest in the trial in advance, with ten selected to participate in the first phase.

The council said it would evaluate the results of the trial before deciding whether to expand the scheme. Anyone interested in taking part in future phases can register their interest with Swansea Council directly.

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