Residents of Kendal who are considering switching to an electric vehicle now have the option to charge up at the Peppercorn Lane public car park, thanks to two new fast chargepoints installed by Charge my Street and South Lakeland District Council.
The chargepoints were officially launched on Tuesday 6 December 2022 by Charge My Street director Daniel Heery and Councillor Dyan Jones, the council’s portfolio holder for climate action and biodiversity. They’re aimed at local people without home chargepoints and visitors who want to charge up during their stay in Kendal.
The launch event also celebrated the final installations as part of a regional project that’s seen over 200 community chargepoints go live across the north of England. The Scaling On-Street Charging Infrastructure (SOSCI) project started in 2018, led by Charge My Street and funded by Innovate UK. Charge My Street is a community benefit society, who’s vision is for eight million homes without off-street parking to be within a five-minute walk of a chargepoint. Many of its chargepoints have been funded through community share offers, involving local residents. The project partners in Cumbria included Cumbria Action for Sustainability, BAY Camera and Communications, South Lakeland District Council and Carlisle City Council.
Two more chargepoints will be switched on soon in Kendal, at South Lakeland House multi-storey car park and Stricklandgate House, Library Road. These sites are part of a larger batch around South Lakes where twin 22kWh chargepoints are being installed, including:
- Red Bank Road, Grasmere
- Kents Bank Road, Grange-Over-Sands
- Daltongate Car Park, Ulverston
- Buxton Place Car Park, Ulverston
- King Street, Ambleside
- Broad Street and Rayrigg Road, Windermere
Daniel Heery said: “It was great to see attendees at the launch event taking the chance to learn more about EVs and charging, and also what the future holds for Charge My Street now that we’ve successfully reached this fantastic milestone in the SOSCI project. We’re very grateful to Lloyd South Lakes MINI for bringing along an electric vehicle, so that people could have a look and ask questions.”
Councillor Jones said: “It’s fantastic to see the first chargepoints in SLDC car parks go live this winter. We’re committed to providing electric vehicle infrastructure in our district to enable a transition to a low-carbon transport economy and this project will greatly increase charging availability in our towns.
“There is a tremendous amount of work to be done to ensure that the number of EV chargepoints matches the growing need, if we are to significantly reduce emissions from transport to make a meaningful contribution to tackling climate change, and this is a great first step in the right direction.”
If you’d like to suggest another site that would be a good host for a chargepoint, visit the Charge My Street website >
Photo: Cutting the ribbon on new chargepoints in Peppercorn Lane Car Park in Kendal are Dyan Jones, Climate Action and Biodiversity Portfolio Holder, SLDC and Daniel Heery, Director of Charge My Street.
Photo credit: Harry Atkinson, Focus Point Design
