We’re keen to encourage greater use of electric vehicles and the introduction of charging points to support them. This will give residents and businesses confidence to invest in electric vehicles when they replace them.
The Energy Saving Trust can tell you more about electric vehicles and charging them. The government’s plug-in grant allows vehicle dealerships to apply a discount to the price of eligible new low-emission vehicles.
Find out where you can charge your electric vehicle in Cambridge.
Plans for new charging points
We plan to install more charging points in our car parks, and we’re working with the county council to install charging points in on-street residential parking spaces.
Our planning policy [PDF, 5.5MB] requires the installation of charging points in new developments with parking provision.
Our Electric Vehicle and Infrastructure Strategy [PDF, 1.5MB] outlines our proposed plans for providing charging points.
Charging points on residential parking spaces
The government provides funding to help some homeowners and tenants install charging points on their property. The charge point must be installed by a registered installer.
The Office for Zero Emission Vehicles provides information about funding for installing charging points.
If you rent your property you should discuss this with the property owner.
If you live in a flat, you will need to discuss it with the freeholder. The parking spaces will need to be close to a power source. You’ll need to consider how the parking space with a charging point will be managed if it is not reserved for your flat.
Charging points for on-street parking spaces
Roads, pavements and street lights are the county council’s responsibility.
Some roads in the city have had electric car charging points installed at on-street locations. ZAP-Map shows the locations of these charge points and whether for residents only or the public.
We’re working on plans with Cambridgeshire County Council to install further on-street charging at suitable locations. We’ll apply for government grant funding for any suitable projects.
Cambridgeshire County Council do not recommend trailing cables across the pavement, because even with a mat protector they can be a trip hazard. You would be liable for any criminal or civil proceedings if your cable caused an accident.
Read the county council’s electric vehicle charging points page for information about plans for on-street charging points.
Charging points at your workplace
It’s up to the owner of your workplace car park to install charging points.
The government provides funding to help eligible businesses install charging points at their premises.
Charging points for licensed taxis
We have installed 17 charging points at locations across the city for use by licensed taxis.
The dedicated taxi only charging points are clearly labelled by both signage adjacent to the parking bays and by the parking bay markings themselves. Use of a taxi charging point by a non-licensed taxi could result in an enforcement notice being issued.
We do not currently have any plans to allow vehicles other than licensed taxis to use the dedicated taxi charging points. But as we install more charging points across the city, we will review our charging point provision and might make them available for public use in the future.
