The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
How forward thinking of SHDC to install electric charging points.
As an electric van owner it’s very much appreciated, an asset to the well being of a dynamic enterprising town.
The only criticism I have is of the overall pricing of the process.
We have driven extensively across the UK from Scotland down to Devon; as a consequence we have charged up in quite a few towns.
The charging structure is quite diverse from being no cost to use in northern England and Scotland, whereas for the rest of the country the maximum we have paid was 35p for a 50kw rapid charge.
Machines (similar to those in Spalding) are 7kw (fast chargers) and usually free (but can be up to 23p), rarely do we pay a parking fee.
Examples are: Springfields has a parking fee of £2 and free electric, Peterborough has both free electric and parking while you shop.
Spalding charges are 30p a kw with parking fees of £1.50 upwards, giving an actual 41p kw cost for charging your vehicle.
This is 7p a kw more than others and another 11p on top of that for parking – making it 19p a kw more than we have ever paid; and they are only fast chargers, not rapid chargers.
With this information I believe Spalding could lose valuable trade to other shopping centres.
Roger Langstaff
via email
