Popular rapid EV chargers increase usage by 139% in Winchester City Council car parks.
In 2024, Winchester City Council installed three new rapid EV chargers and upgraded four fast chargers to rapid in its car parks across the district. Between October and December, the seven car parks with new rapid chargers showed a 139% increase in usage, compared to the same period in 2023. The busiest car park for EV charging is Basingwell car park in Bishops Waltham, where the EV chargers were used 267 times in January alone.
The addition of the new chargers has brought the total number across the district to 39, the vast majority of which have two charging points. There are therefore now over 70 dedicated EV charging parking bays available in City Council car parks.
The total power consumed at Winchester City Council car parks during the same 3-month period (October to December 2024) is 131,625kWh. This is an increase of 42% over the same period in 2023 - the equivalent of 18 trips around the world in an average sized electric vehicle.
Fast EV chargers, providing between 7 and 22kW of power, should provide a full charge in just a few hours. The same level of charge can be achieved in under an hour with a rapid (50/60 kW) charger.
Councillor Kelsie Learney, Cabinet Member for Climate Emergency, said:
“I'm really pleased to see this increase in usage – it shows that there is a growing commitment to greener travel across the district and that our initiatives are helping people to make this shift. We'll continue to work with partners to increase this capacity, not only for electric vehicles but other forms of low carbon travel too.”
Winchester’s new rapid chargers can be found at Colebrook, Middle Brook St, Worthy Lane, St Peter’s and Harestock car parks, at Basingwell Street car park in Bishops Waltham and Winchester Sport and Leisure Park.
The full list of charge point locations can be found on the website at www.winchester.gov.uk/parking/other-parking-facilities.