Locations of forty-eight new electric vehicle chargers across Scarborough borough revealed

Whitby will get 12 chargers, 27 will be installed across Scarborough, there will be three in Filey and two each in Robin Hood’s Bay, Staithes and Runswick Bay.

Each charger can power two vehicles at once.

In June, the authority applied for funding for 102 electric vehicle charging points – 60 charging bays in Scarborough, 24 in Whitby, six in Filey and another 12 across other villages.

However, the grant is for the installation of 48 electric charge points across 18 council-owned car parks.

The locations in the first phase have been chosen where there is limited or no access to on street parking and they are designed to be used by local residents.

The charge points will be a mixture of 7kW and 22kW to provide flexibility in terms of capacity and therefore speed of charging.

It’s hoped the first devices will be installed before the end of the year in what will be the biggest roll out of electric vehicle chargers anywhere in North Yorkshire.

The funding to pay for them is from the On Street Residential Charge Point Scheme from the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) with support from the Energy Saving Trust.

The scheme has been created to help borough residents make the switch from combustion engine powered vehicles to a hybrid or plug-in model.

The chargers will be installed and maintained by the council’s project partner Connected Kerb which has a similar scheme up and running in the Ryedale district.

Figures from Department of Transport show there were 400 pure electric or hybrid vehicles registered in the borough at the end of 2021.

There were a total of 65,714 registered vehicles overall, but the figure for zero or low emission cars increased by more than 200 compared to the year before.

Expert predictions suggest there will be more than 8,000 plug-in vehicles in the borough by 2030 when the ban on the sale of new diesel and petrol engines comes into force.

Councillor Michelle Donohue-Moncrieff, cabinet member for the environment and sustainability, said: “The number of plug-in vehicles on the roads in our borough is increasing all the time and we expect there will be thousands by 2030 when the ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars comes into force.

“The future is electric - and the installation of this first phase of charging points will kick start the rollout of the infrastructure needed to support zero emission vehicles.

“We are committed to doing everything we can to help our residents make the switch to a plug-in model which is why we’ve launched our charge point scheme.

"We hope our scheme will influence people’s decision on their next vehicle and meet the needs of those already calling on us to take action to increase the number of charge points in the borough.

“I hope the initial £260,000 will be just the start of significant investment across the area in the years to come.”