The cross-pavement channel allows residents to install a cable gully into the pavement outside their home and easily charge on the street without causing hazards. This is the only approved method for running a charging cable across a public footway and could save residents around £4,000 per year compared to using public charging.
The first installations, for residents without a driveway, have been made by Kerbo Charge, the council’s partner for the scheme, on 12 August. There will initially be a one-year trial period, to include 20 installations. Residents who are accepted as part of the trial will be required to pay £399 towards the installation costs and arrange installation of their own wall-mounted EV charger.
The most suitable properties are those where householders can usually park outside their homes and can access a ground-floor electricity supply. Through this scheme, they plug into their home charger, feed the EV cable through the cross-pavement channel and plug into their vehicle on-street. The channel is flush to the pavement, to prevent trip hazards.
“This is an exciting trial, and we are grateful to have received the funding to do it” said Councillor Nadeem Khawar, lead member for environment and public realm at Slough Borough Council. “Having no driveway will no longer be a barrier to home charging. The cross-pavement channel is unobstructive to those using the pavement and creates easy access for home charging. We have a great network of electric vehicle infrastructure in Slough already, and home charging is becoming more popular. We hope the trial goes well and we can expand it further in time.”
The environmental quality team at the council will monitor the success of the first 20 installations, before expanding the scheme more widely.
“We're delighted to be working with Slough Borough Council on this trial” added Kerbo Charge Co-Founder, Michael Goulden. “At its heart, this is about giving residents more choice in how they charge their electric vehicle and helping remove the barriers that can put people off making the switch. We're excited to see more Slough residents make the move to electric in the months ahead.”
Tom Preston, Chief Executive Officer at Hippo Leasing, said that the trial tackles one of the real reasons EV leasing hasn't worked for everyone and that around a third of UK households don't have a driveway.
“So home charging has effectively only been available to people with off-street parking” added Mr Preston. “Everyone else has had to rely on the public network, which may cost more and isn't always nearby, and that's put plenty of people off going electric, even when a lease would otherwise suit them. If Slough's cross-pavement channels prove reliable over the trial's first year, it could be one of the changes that actually shifts who an EV lease makes sense for. While this won't solve wider public infrastructure overnight, and drivers must remember a channel doesn't grant a reserved parking space outside their home or eliminate initial installation costs, Slough's 20-channel pilot is a huge step in the right direction. If local councils roll this out widely, it may remove a huge barrier for millions of drivers, making cheaper domestic overnight energy tariffs a reality. As a leasing provider, that's definitely worth watching closely. Every barrier like this that gets removed brings EV leasing within reach for more households, not just the ones with a drive to park on.”
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