Electric vehicle charging rollout poses growing threat to walking and wheeling targets and disabled access, warn charities
The rollout of public electric vehicle (EV) charging points could see the introduction of this new infrastructure significantly impact Disabled people and jeopardise targets to increase walking and wheeling trips, charities have warned.
A new report from climate charity Possible, with support from Disabled cycling charity Wheels for Wellbeing, has found that while London has made the most progress on public electric vehicle chargepoint installations of any UK region, there have been over 2500 standalone electric charge points installed on pavements in the capital, despite this being explicitly recommended against in the government’s national EV infrastructure strategy.
Best practice guidance from Transport for London is also clear that EV chargepoints should be installed on kerb buildouts in parking spaces rather than on pavements. However, the figures show that London councils have installed four times as many EV chargepoints on pavements than they have in converted parking spaces so far.
The government has said that around half a million public EV chargepoints will need to be installed by 2030 in order to meet demand from drivers under net zero plans, creating huge pressure on local authorities to accelerate the rollout of charging infrastructure on UK streets. The government has also set an objective for half of all short trips in towns and cities to be walked, wheeled or cycled by 2030 - requiring road space to be reallocated away from private cars and towards active travel. De-cluttering pavements is officially recognised as an essential part of enabling more trips to be made by active travel.
The Department for Transport has recently slashed budgets for walking, wheeling and cycling improvements, while at the same time massively increasing budgets for on-street EV chargepoints. The report highlights that government grants to local councils to install public on-street EV chargepoints do not come with any conditions on where they are placed - on pavements, or in the carriageway - meaning many local authorities are choosing to place them in scarce pedestrian space instead of taking parking space away from cars.
Pavement installations can have a profound impact on the already generally poor quality of the walking and wheeling environment for people with additional mobility challenges, particularly wheelchair users and those with visual impairments. By making footways more difficult to navigate for all pedestrians, they are also likely to deter walking and wheeling trips more widely, at a time when councils are supposed to be supporting residents to make more.
Freedom of Information requests to London councils revealed that across the 32 local authorities, just nine have policies on EV charger placement which presume against installing them on pavements, while 15 have no policy at all.
The investigation found that Hammersmith and Fulham had installed the most chargepoints by October 2022, at 1609, but the council has a policy to exclusively place them on pavements, in defiance of best practice guidance. An audit of chargepoints installed on pavements in the borough found that three quarters do not leave the required minimum clear footway width for disabled access.
For Disabled people who do not use private vehicles, electric vehicle chargepoints are just a new obstacle on the streetscape. Even Disabled people who do have access to cars and would like to switch to EVs have found that the overwhelming majority of public chargepoints are completely inaccessible to Disabled drivers.
Possible and Wheels for Wellbeing have written to the respective government agencies responsible for delivering EV charging and walking targets, the Office of Zero Emission Vehicles and Active Travel England, calling on them to come together to agree on a set of common principles with respect to placement of on-street electric vehicle charging points, with a specific focus on those that are in receipt of public funding.
Leo Murray, co-director at climate charity Possible, said:
“Our investigation reveals that space is being taken from pedestrians and given to private cars instead of the other way around. It is right that drivers without off-street parking are supported to switch to electric vehicles. However, it is deeply ironic that we are paying councils to enable private cars to invade precious pavement space in the name of the environment. Ensuring active travel is a viable option for all is just as important for meeting climate targets as changing the way cars are fuelled, but to do that, we need to be removing clutter from footways, not adding to it.”
Isabelle Clement, Director of Wheels for Wellbeing, said:
”Possible’s investigation has uncovered a new and totally avoidable access catastrophe. The rollout of EV chargepoints is welcome, but it’s fast eating away at footways across the capital, whilst simultaneously failing to provide accessible charging for Disabled drivers. Disabled people already have to contend with poor-quality walking and wheeling environments including narrow pavements, cracked paving slabs, tree roots, street clutter, missing dropped kerbs and lack of tactile paving.
“Now councils are adding further access challenges by installing EV charging points on pavements. Once again, the Equality Act and the obligation not to disadvantage Disabled people seems to have been ignored by the public bodies funding and delivering this infrastructure. We will support ATE and OLEZ in ending this practice and ensuring that the roll out of EV chargepoints brings progress and greener mobility for all, rather than further limiting Disabled people’s mobility“
ENDS
Notes to editors:
For media enquiries and further information please contact press@wearepossible.org or 07806431577.
The full report and letter to OZEV and ATE are available to download here.
Leo Murray, co-director at climate charity Possible, is available for comment. Please contact press@wearepossible.org for more information.
Possible is a UK-based charity that brings people together to take positive, practical action on climate change. Combining individual and local actions with larger systemic change, we connect people with each other, and communities with ways to address the climate crisis. Wearepossible.org.
Wheels for Wellbeing exists to enhance disabled people’s lives by ensuring that anyone can access the physical, emotional, practical and social benefits of cycling. https://wheelsforwellbeing.org.uk/