Electric vehicle charging point

Let’s go Electric Epsom and Ewell

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Friday 9 September is World EV day, a global movement to celebrate switching to electric vehicles and driving change. In Surrey, almost half our emissions come from transport, and about half of that is from private vehicles. So, reducing the emissions from the way we travel about – whether that’s by walking or cycling more, using public transport or switching to an electric car – can help to drastically reduce our carbon footprint.

Electric vehicles produce virtually no exhaust emissions, so are much cleaner than petrol or diesel cars. And lots of people are choosing to make the switch.

Recent Government data shows a 62% increase in battery-operated electric vehicles in the UK, compared to the same period last year and, for the first time, registrations of new electric vehicles outstripped registrations of new diesel vehicles.

To support residents’ switch to electric vehicles, Surrey County Council is installing on-street chargepoints across the county. Phase one of the installation programme will see 80 chargepoints installed across four boroughs – Woking, Guildford, Spelthorne and Waverley. Phase two has already started and includes plans to install 110 chargepoints across six boroughs in the coming months.

Residents can suggest a location for an on street chargepoint near them via a dedicated online map – Have Your Say Today – Surrey EV – Commonplace. Over 1700 suggestions have already been submitted and the information is being used to inform future EV chargepoint installations.

Matt Furniss, Surrey County Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport, Infrastructure and Growth, said: “On World EV Day, it’s important we recognise the progress we have made in supporting residents to switch to electric vehicles, and the ongoing work to ensure we meet our goals. Transport is such a huge contributor to our carbon emissions in Surrey, so changing the way we travel and reducing our emissions from transport is a key area for achieving our climate change targets.

“We have recently invested over £39m in buses including a new, electric on-demand bus service in Mole Valley.”

Surrey County Council has a target to be a net zero carbon council by 2030 and a net zero county by 2050, in line with government targets.

Access to chargepoints for electric vehicles is essential in order to give resident’s the confidence to make the switch, especially those who do not have access to their own driveway or for whom it’s not appropriate to install a chargepoint at home.

Current estimates are that we would need 10,000 chargepoints in the county by 2030 to meet demand from electric vehicle owners.

Read about one resident’s experience of switching to electric, and why she’s a total convert now! Resident Blog: Going Electric… (commonplace.is)

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