Lincoln, like many other cities across the UK, is moving to an all-electric car future as the government aims to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2025. But is this small city in the Midlands in line with the rest of the country in terms of its EV infrastructure?
As it currently stands, Lincoln has over 60 charge points throughout the city. One of the main charging stations is located in Lincoln’s Central Car Park near the station, but is there enough to sustain the growth of adoption?
Kate Bell, climate change manager at City of Lincoln Council, said: “We currently have more than 60 publicly accessible electric vehicle chargers in the city and the current need based on ownership is between 16 and 25.
“According to data, by 2025 we know there will be a demand of between 70 and 177. So that’s our target – we need to stay ahead of the curve, and the only way we’re going to do that is by introducing on-street charge points.”
Aside from City of Lincoln Council and Lincolnshire County Council working together to provide Lincoln with chargers, companies such as Co-op have added a couple to its car parks and is encouraging more supermarkets to do the same.
Nick Jones, Lincolnshire Co-op’s service support manager, said: “We hope that by making electric charging an option at our outlets, we’ll lead by example and encourage more businesses to do the same, so electric cars will become a more viable option for people living in our area.”
Currently, the UK has 45,743 EV chargers nationwide at 16,926 different locations, with around 1,000 being added every month. As you can see from the map image, Lincoln has an even spread of chargers covering most of the city, but something they are working on now is the addition of on-street electric vehicle charging that uses electricity from lamp posts.
The cost-saving alone makes it worth it – each costing between £2k and £3k instead of around £30k for the stand-alone chargers like in multistorey car parks.
Use the ZapMap app to find the best electric vehicle chargers in Lincoln or in other cities.