Up to 250 new electric vehicle charging points in public car parks by next March

Following a successful pilot at Bicester’s Cattle Market car park, a further 18 sites have been selected for the Park and Charge Oxfordshire project.

The chargers will be in car parks with free overnight parking and will be available 24/7 with contactless payment and an app available.

Oxfordshire-based charge point operator EZ-Charge has signed a 10-year contract to develop the project with four district councils: Cherwell, West Oxfordshire, South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse.

They will deliver a viable alternative to the 40 per cent of Oxfordshire residents who do not have off-street parking and cannot install a home charger.

Partnering with the councils and the University of Oxford, EZ-Charge aims to service over 2,800 electric vehicles from year one and to expand the offer to other local authorities.

It hopes the project will accelerate the adoption of EVs and it can share its expertise and technology to meet the rapid growth of the EV market.

The company also wants to continue to develop state-of-the-art charging technology, creating jobs and economic benefits for Oxfordshire.

Phil Shadbolt OBE, chairman and CEO, said: “Finding innovative ways of improving the EV infrastructure by making it more reliable and easier to use for the general public is going to be a key challenge to enable the growth of EVs in the UK.

"We believe that our project, in partnership with four Oxfordshire councils and Oxford University, could prove to be transformational as local authorities strive to enable their EV infrastructure strategies for the rest of the UK.”

EZ-Charge is the trading name of parent company Zeta Specialist Lighting which has been working in the automotive and innovation space for over 30 years and developed a state of the art charger for the scheme.