Powerful move towards electric charging points for town car park
More electric vehicle charging points could be installed in Oswestry after usage of the first two chargers almost doubled in the space of one month.
Town councillors said they wanted to be ahead of the curve as more and more people make the switch away from petrol and diesel vehicles, with demand for charging points expected to increase significantly in the coming years.
It is to investigate bringing more points into the town.
Data from InstaVolt, the supplier of the two charging points in Central Car Park, was presented to members of Oswestry Town Council at a recent meeting.
It showed the number of charging sessions, kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy used and carbon savings has steadily risen since the chargers were switched on in October.
They were installed by InstaVolt free of charge, and the company charges 35p per kWh of energy used. Motorists also have to pay for parking.
According to the report, the chargers were used less than 20 times in October, reaching around 70 this April and soaring to almost 140 in May.
Councillor Paul Milner said: “It would be good to extend the number of car charging points we have.
“The market is only going to go up and up now so it would be nice to get ahead of the game.”
This was backed by other members, with Councillor Olly Rose suggesting solar panels the council plans to install on Powis Hall could power extra chargers.
However town clerk Arren Roberts told members that despite the increase in uptake, InstaVolt had said demand was not high enough for it to consider installing additional chargers in the town at present.
He said: “It has been investigated with InstaVolt. As I understand it, they don’t with to provide any additional charging points in Oswestry so we would be looking at an alternative provider.
“It’s a significant investment and they don’t think there is that demand for more chargers than we have got.
“If you look at the figures there is capacity there.”
Councillor John Price proposed asking the clerk to further investigate market projections around use of electric vehicles, and produce another report at a future meeting to advise councillors on whether to pursue the matter with a different supplier.
