The Isle of Wight council has announced a partnership with Joju and Mer Charging to expand its electric vehicle (EV) charging offering.
This move will support residents without access to off-street parking.
Powered by green electricity
The active chargers at Quay Street in Newport are proving popular with Island residents, with 441 charging sessions and over 7,200 kilowatt hours of electricity drawn to date.
All the chargepoints are powered by green electricity.
Jordan: We look forward to increasing this number over the next few weeks
Cllr Phil Jordan, Cabinet Member for Infrastructure, Highways and Transport, said,
“I am delighted and encouraged that the first seven on-street electric vehicle charge points are now available for residents to use, and we look forward to increasing this number over the next few weeks.
“We have been receiving a growing number of requests from both residents and visitors for public charging facilities and through our partnership with Joju/Mer we are planning and working towards meeting the demand as fast as we are able.”
Locations based on local resident demand
The on-street charger locations have been chosen based on local resident demand and will help facilitate the EV transition for residents who do not have access to home charging.
One parking bay at each site is reserved exclusively for EVs that need to recharge.
Dual fast chargers in public car parks
In addition to this partnership, Mer is full- funding the installation of seven new rapid chargers and 16 dual fast chargers in public car parks across the Island.
This follows a decision by the Cabinet in January 2022 to meet the growing demand from EV drivers, including visitors. This will increase the number of car parks with operational EV chargepoints to 13.
First completed by end of the month
It is anticipated that the first of these new off-street installations will be completed by the end of December 2022.
Transitioning to EVs is key to the achievement of the council’s climate targets, which include increasing the number of public chargepoint sockets to at least 72 in council car parks and on private land such as supermarkets and petrol stations.
IWC: Working closely with contractors
An Isle of Wight council spokesperson said,
“We acknowledge that not all chargepoints are in working order at the moment, but we are working closely with contractors to get them running as soon as possible.”
Find out more
More information about on street and off-street parking locations and parking restrictions can be found on the following links:
Image: L-R: Mark Downer (IWC Parking Services), Ella Clapham (IWC Regeneration), Emma Blades (Joju), Councillor Phil Jordan, Councillor Julie Jones-Evans, Dominique Dorsett-Vidal (Joju)
