Millions of UK households could benefit from ‘through-street charging’ for EVs

Millions of UK households could benefit from ‘through-street charging’ for EVs

With more than two million plug-in cars now registered in the UK, around 1.3 million of these pure electric (BEV)[1], the mass transition to electrification is now looking inevitable.

However, British smart home technology provider myenergi – famous for its zappi EV charger – believes that there is still more work needed to make the transition as equitable and accessible as possible.

The UK should see well over 600,000 new plug-in cars registered in 2025[2], and is also on course to see hundreds of thousands of new home chargers, as well as tens of thousands of public charge points installed.

While the reliability and convenience of using the public charging network is now enshrined in law, there is arguably still work to be done to ensure public charge points are as accessible as possible for all drivers, including via the PAS 1899 documentation that defines good practice standards for the design of charging infrastructure.

Many users of the public charging network will be the proportion of households – estimated at around 40%[3] – that lack dedicated off-street parking and have historically been out of scope for home charging. However, myenergi believes that millions of these households could be given the opportunity to charge at home, with access to both cheaper energy tariffs and the potential to use domestic solar generation, if a series of simple steps were taken by local authorities[4].

Jack Fielder, Chief Strategy Officer for myenergi, explains: “Today, every local authority in the country provides a simple process for its residents to apply for a dropped kerb – or ‘vehicle crossover’. We believe that a similarly standardised process should be available to allow households that park on-street close to their property to apply for a dedicated EV charging channel.

“In support of this, we have partnered with British firm Kerbo Charge to support the widespread adoption of its simple, safe and secure EV charging channel, in combination with our award-winning zappi EV charger.”

Michael Goulden, Director of Kerbo Charge, added: “Many residents with on-street parking will only switch to an EV when they can safely charge at home. This is because public charging can cost far more than using an off-peak home energy tariff.

“We’re delighted to be partnering with myenergi to offer the complete package to residents – one of the UK’s most popular EV chargers and our pioneering through-pavement charging channel in one simple package. We’re already live with 26 local authorities, with more announced every month – this really tackles the current inequality that residents without driveways face when charging their car.”

myenergi is calling on the government to urgently publish guidance for local authorities on the use of safe cross pavement solutions, which was promised in the ‘Plan for Drivers’ published by the previous government in October 2023. In the 12 months since then, more than 500,000 new electric cars have been registered, and many local authorities remain unsure about how to enable these important new innovations.

[1] Source: SMMT new car registration data (2010-2024)

[2] Source: SMMT UK new car and van forecast – July 2024

[3] Source: UK government English Housing Survey – Homes Report 2010

[4] Source: Estimate based on housing data from ONS Census 2021