Report of the Strategic Director (Development)

This report provides an update on progress following the adoption of the Manchester Electric Vehicle Charging Strategy.

The Committee considered the report of the Strategic Director, Growth and Development that provided an update on progress following the adoption of the Manchester Electric Vehicle Charging (EV) Strategy.

Key points and themes in the report included:

·         Providing an introduction and background to the topic,

·         Discussion of the main challenges;

·         Information in relation to Public Charging Network;

·         The Public EV Procurement Process;

·         The approach to support the move towards a cleaner taxi fleet;

·         Consideration of the requirements for the installation of EV charge points as part of both new build developments and change of use developments;

·         Consideration of the council’s own vehicle fleet; and

·         Consideration of on-street charging, noting that this presented particular challenges, especially in residential areas with informal parking arrangements such as terraced streets.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

·         Articulating the request from residents for additional on-street EV charging points, especially in high density areas such as the city centre, and reflecting the proportion of areas in the city there is no or little off-street parking

·         Additional information was requested on the data and information that had been used to inform the report;

·         Suggesting increased access for the public to charging points by working with employers who provide EVs on their sites and owned land;

·         The need to consider all viable options and opportunities to deliver on-street EV charging to give residents confidence to change to an electric vehicle; and

·         Need and demand for EV charging across the whole of the city needed to be considered.

The Principal Policy Officer informed the Committee that a draft list of locations (over 40 in total) had been developed and internal agreement was currently being sought for these locations to supply, install, manage and operate a scheme of up to 200 connectors (100 dual headed chargepoints) to be installed over a two year period. The locations were geographically spread across the city to ensure that chargepoints would be accessible to as many residents as possible. She said that the Members would have sight of these locations prior to a go-live date, however at this time it was not possible to share more widely as these were subject to change and not finalised. She advised that consideration was given to maximising all opportunities using Council owned land and appropriate consideration was given to developments in battery technology.

The Principal Policy Officer discussed the issue of the use of lamp posts to deliver EV charging on- street. She stated this was not considered as a viable option due to a number of factors, including the position of lampposts at the rear of pavements; capacity within the existing grid, adding that lampposts would only offer a very slow charge time; costs associated with additional necessary highways works to deliver that type of EV charging facility. 

The Interim Head of Infrastructure and Environment commented that Manchester continued to discuss and learn from other authorities on this issue.

The Executive Member for Environment and Transport commented that Manchester was constrained due to the inadequate funding from government to progress this work. She said that despite this all opportunities were explored to support residents transition to electric vehicles. She proposed to review the strategy as it was clear that members felt that it needed to demonstrate more ambition. She further stated that this programme of work needed to be considered in the wider strategic context of citywide travel including via public transport and active travel.

Decision

The Committee recommend that a review of the Electric Vehicle Charging Strategy be undertaken in due course to more rapidly increase the proportion of residents able to change to an electric vehicle with confidence.