Electric Brighton Newsletter - Autumn 2021

October 22^nd 2021

The following is our newsletter which is emailed out to our mailing list every few months with local EV news. If you'd like to subscribe, head over to our Hug the Plug campaign and fill out the form.

Hello!

As always, a warm welcome to those of you who've joined our newsletter through our Hug the Plug campaign, which now has over 534 members!

Here's our quarterly round-up of local news and goings-on in the world of Electric Vehicles in Brighton & Hove. Just a heads up - We'll be sending you another email next month for our annual survey.

Local news

50% of city's lamp post chargers to have dedicated bays by March

The Council continues their work on adding dedicated bays to lamp post chargers, based on demand. They have outlined that by March next year, they expect 50% of lamp post charge points to have dedicated, marked bays.

Traffic Regulation Orders have just been issued for the next batch of locations planned to have dedicated bays added (TRO-27-2021). Subject to final approval, the proposed locations are Argyle Road, Bloomsbury Place, Bristol Street, Carlisle Road, Carlton Hill, Chester Terrace, Clyde Road, Compton Avenue, East Drive, Eaton Gardens, Erroll Road, Freshfield Road, Havelock Road, Hythe Road, Lancaster Road, Langdale Gardens, Lucerne Road, Maresfield Road, Marine Square, Marmion Road, Montpelier Crescent, Princes Crescent, Quebec Street, Richmond Street, Round Hill Crescent, Rugby Road, Russell Square, Saxon Road, Selborne Road and Suffolk Street.
If you would like to show your support for any of these proposed bays, public comments are invited until November 12th. If you're wondering where your nearest dedicated bay is in the meantime, we have a map of all charge points in the city with dedicated bays.

If you have trouble accessing a lamp post charger near you, be sure to let the Council's EV team know so that they can track demand, electric.vehicles@brighton-hove.gov.uk.

Brighton & Hove City Council estimates that by 2030, the city will require the capacity to charge up to 20,000 electric vehicles in residential areas with no off-street parking. To meet this anticipated demand, the Council plans to continue bids for funding in order to roll out infrastructure in the coming years.

Hopes for new Rapid and Ultra-Rapid Charging Locations near A27

After receiving requests from charge point operators, Brighton & Hove City Council has begun work with UK Power Networks to find locations close to the A27 that are suitable for a new Rapid or Ultra-rapid charging hub. If a suitable location can be found, then they will invite companies to bid for the opportunity to build and operate a charging station there.

Brighton Racecourse Rapid Charging Hub to feature solar canopy and Tesla battery storage

Planning continues for the city's next Rapid Charging Hub, which is to be located at Brighton Racecourse. The location will be similar to the current locations in Preston Park, Portslade and Ashton Rise, providing charging for both electric taxis and the public, but this location will include the added benefit of a Solar Canopy. The canopy will support 13.92 kW of peak generation, which will be stored in 40.5kW of Tesla Powerwall battery storage. You can find out more information on the EB Charging website.
Work is expected to start before the end of the year.

Better access to charge points for disabled people

Innovate UK research funding was recently awarded to EB Charging, Disabled Motoring UK and Brighton and Hove City Council for a new project aiming to understand and reduce the barriers facing disabled drivers. Part of the project will create a model for accessible disabled bay charge points that can be booked - The booking system is something that will also benefit Council fleet vehicles whose drivers can't charge their vehicles at home. The project is now underway and is due to finish in March.

New electric vehicles added to the Council's EV fleet

A new all-electric refuse collection vehicle has been added to the city's fleet of vehicles. The 27-tonne Electra RCV comes with a 300kWh battery pack enabling zero tailpipe emissions and considerable fuel savings over its diesel equivalent. The lower maintenance required means its lifespan is expected to be 3-5 years longer too. Let us know if you see this bin lorry in your street!

The council also added an electric distribution vehicle for the BTN Bike Share, purchased from our friends at Rivervale in Portslade.

The council plans to continue its fleet electrification as part of its 2030 carbon neutrality target, although with just 5% of their fleet currently electrified, they are only just getting started.

Local EV ownership update

The latest Government data for Q1 and Q2 2020 shows a continued increase of 11% per quarter for plug-in and battery electric vehicles, with the total registered vehicles now standing at 1100. Of those, a huge 676 are battery-electric, which continue to rise slightly faster than those of plug-in hybrids.

We've published these numbers on our page about EV ownership figures for Brighton & Hove. We've also continued to publish data that the Council has shared with us about how much energy Brighton's charge points are delivering, and the amount of CO₂ emissions that they are saving.

To keep up to date with EV news and updates, you can follow us on Twitter. If you have any news, suggestions or feedback then feel free to drop us a line on Twitter or email us hello@electricbrighton.com.
If you would like to support Electric Brighton and our efforts to speed up the transition away from fossil fuel vehicles in Brighton & Hove, then please check out some of the ways you can support us.