Electric cars: How easy is it to charge them in Milton Keynes?

The chancellor's autumn budget has earmarked £620m for electric car charging points as part of efforts to end the sale of new diesel and petrol cars and vans by 2030 and all diesel vehicles by 2040.

Milton Keynes, which already has more charging points per person than anywhere else in the country outside London, has already taken advantage of £1.1m of grant funding to install 250 more to areas with fewer off-street parking options, and where electric car ownership is on the rise.

How easy it is for electric car owners in the town to charge their vehicles?

Milton Keynes Council says some 40% of homes in the town do not currently have off-street charging facilities.

Mazhar Shar lives in one of them, in a block of flats, but he wants to help the environment, so drives two minutes to a nearby charging point.

"For me it works, based on the amount of miles I do in a week," he says.

"I tend to charge once a week and I try to fit it in with my normal activities: going to the gym, going to the supermarket, the GP or post office round here. It seems to work really well so far."

Despite having more charging points than other parts of the UK, demand for them in Milton Keynes has increased, causing problems.

Electric car owner Richard Lowden says he often has to drive around, hunting for one.

And when he does find a charging point, it is "not uncommon" to find it is broken, he says.

"Two or three years ago Milton Keynes was the real heaven for electric car drivers because you could guarantee to find a charging facility," he says.

"Fast forward to today and that is not the case, and that is pretty much due to the explosion of individuals buying electric cars - which is great news, but the infrastructure has to keep up with the trend."

"Encouraging drivers to make the switch to electric is a vital part of our carbon neutral future," says Labour councillor Jennifer Wilson-Marklew, cabinet member for climate action and sustainability.

"It needs to be made as easy as possible and we look forward to working with all of our partners to begin this ground-breaking project."

But will the installation of 250 new charging points in residential streets by next April make much impact, given the rise in demand?

Ms Wilson-Marklew says the project should be viewed as "proof of concept".

She says: "We're using these to demonstrate that we can make it accessible to lots of people, even if they don't have a driveway.

"Hopefully that proof of concept is going to demonstrate that it works, and we can get them installed all across the city, and hopefully all across the country."

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