Electric charging points call

Powys County Council was this week urged to set-up a network of electric charging points at its car parks across the region.

Graham Breeze, Independent County Councillor for Welshpool’s Llanerchyddol ward and a motoring journalist for over 40 years, has urged the council to recognise the trend for electrifying motoring.

He has written to Liam Fitzpatrick, the council’s Portfolio Holder for Highways, calling for an investigation to be carried out into establishing electric car charging points at all the county’s main car parks.

“This is a real opportunity for Powys to be at the forefront of the trend to electrify motoring which will eventually signal the end of the internal combustion engine,” he said.

“The world’s major car manufacturers are totally committed to electrification. Volvo will electrify its entire vehicle line by 2019 with five-all-electric models set to roll-out from 2019 to 2021 with a target of a million sales by 2025.

“General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Mazda, Daimler, Merecedes-Benz, Renault, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Jaguar/Land Rover, Volkswagen, Audi, Seat and Skoda have all announced plans to phase out petrol and diesel power.

“The move is Government-led and a growing movement to end the use of traditional combustion engines to cut down on vehicle emissions and protect our planet.

“Make no mistake, electric cars are coming to every road in the immediate future and if we want to continue attracting visitors to our towns we must be ready.

“The county needs an infrastructure of charging points and I see this an opportunity for the council to make money as well as providing a service which will become essential as the movement grows.”

The councillor claims that news that Shell and BP has announced plans to install charging points at its garage networks across the UK proves there is both a need and financial benefit on the horizon.

“The news that BP and Shell are adding rapid charging points at all its UK petrol stations is the latest sign of oil giants adapting to the dramatic growth of battery power,” he added.

“The next decade will see a major shift in production trends, bringing electric vehicles to our roads in unprecedented numbers and it is vitally important that Powys is ready to embrace this significant change.

“Our public car parks are well used and offer the perfect locations for charging points and the chance to introduce another incentive for visitors to our towns should be grasped with both hands.

“I would hope that Councillor Fitzpatrick will see this as an opportunity to cut down on damaging vehicle emissions in Powys while at the same introduce a badly needed new revenue stream.”