Tewkesbury and Winchcombe receive EV chargers

Car parks in Gloucestershire have been fitted with public electric vehicle chargepoints. 

The Gloucester Road car park in Tewkesbury and Back Lane car park in Winchcombe – both owned by Tewkesbury Borough Council – have switched on their 22kW fast chargepoints. Each installation can charge two electric vehicles at the same time.

With EV uptake rising across the UK, rural areas have often seen their charging infrastructure develop more slowly than in urban centres. To help close this gap, Tewkesbury Borough Council secured £41,125 from the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, covering around two-thirds of the total cost.

Cllr Cate Cody, lead member for climate and ecology said: “These new chargepoints are already popular with our residents and visitors, giving electric vehicle drivers easy recharging whilst enjoying our historic and beautiful towns.

“I’m also delighted that from Friday,1 May, we will be offering free parking for those using our EV chargepoints. This will create opportunities for local businesses, as well as making it easier for Winchcombe and Tewkesbury town residents without home?charging to switch to an electric car which they can charge at their local car park.”

Evolt Charging installed two double chargepoint units in the car parks on behalf of the borough council. These add to the council’s electric vehicle charging network, which includes Spring Gardens car park and the council offices, both in Tewkesbury.

The changepoints at the Gloucester Road car park have been mounted on a raised platform in order to protect the equipment from local flood risk as far as possible. 

Drivers can access the chargers using the Evolt Network app, Web Pay, Electroverse, Zapmap, or tap-to-use (radio frequency identification) cards, and will need to use their own charging cables to connect their vehicle. 

The chargepoints at Winchcombe and Gloucester Road also accept debit and credit cards.

The chargepoints are priced at 50p per kWh, plus a 30p transaction fee.