Having easy access to charging points remains one of the biggest barriers to electric car take-up. While rising, the growth of the public charging network lags behind the growth in EV sales, and studies suggest around 40 per cent of households – that’s 15 million drivers – cannot install a home charging point.
So what do you do if you own an electric car but can’t charge it on your own driveway? One simple solution: charge it on someone else’s driveway. No, we’re not suggesting you just park up in front of your neighbour’s house and plug your car in: you could use an app-based community charging service. And one prominent scheme has now won the support of Vauxhall.
Electric car charging: everything you need to know
JustCharge is one of a growing number of community charging networks that aims to match people with a home charging point to rent it out, with drivers who need somewhere to charge. Parent firm JustPark claims it has 1000 hosts and 80,000 drivers already signed up to its network. Users can rent a charging point and make payments via the app.
Significantly, JustCharge has now received backing from Vauxhall, which has said it will work with its 282 dealers to advise customers on how they can use their home charging points as part of the scheme - and highlight that renting out a charging point could help to lower the cost of EV ownership.
Five alternatives to using the public charging network
Vauxhall boss Paul Willcox said that the partnership with JustCharge was designed to “make a genuine difference to encouraging more British drivers to go electric sooner – with all the environmental, financial and driving experience benefits that comes with.”
Matt Shirley, JustPark’s head of EV networks added: “Community Charging has the potential to ease the transition to EV for millions of car buyers. The majority of UK councils do not currently have an EV charging strategy in place.” He claims that community charging schemes represent “a viable and cost-effective route to addressing the dramatic charging shortfall as we transition to EVs.”
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