Three new 'rapid' electric car charging points installed in Hemel Hempstead

Dacorum Borough Council has announced that three new electric car charging points are available to use in Hemel Hempstead.

A new charging station has opened in he Old Town High Street as part of the council’s larger rollout.

Dacorum Borough Council has promised to deliver more electrical vehicle charging points throughout the area.

Three new “Rapid” 60kW Osprey EVCPs are now live in the car park, with installation work soon to be completed in Wood Lane End car park, Leverstock Green Shopping Parade and Hicks Road car park in Markyate.

A range of different EVCPs - from “Fast” to “Ultra Rapid” - are on the way at many other sites in Dacorum, the council adds. It will be providing more information on the next charging points when the designs are finalised and works are planned.

Government funding of £415,360 is being used to partially fund the rollout.

Councillor Adrian England said: “These EV rapid chargers provide an opportunity to get a quick charge from 20% to 80% in around 30 minutes, depending on your car, combined with a coffee in the High Street or a similarly re-charging walk in Gadebridge Park. We hope the new EVCPs will encourage more drivers to have confidence in switching to electric vehicles, as we work towards making Dacorum net-zero before 2050.”

Dacorum Borough Council is advising residents to use Zap-Map to check where charging points are active. Within the council is a Dacorum Climate Action Network which residents can express an interest in supporting or joining online.

Company, Osprey Charging Network, is funding and running the project.

Dacorum Borough Council has developed an Electric Vehicle Strategy, linked to Government plans to stop selling new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2035.

In total the council hopes to open 104 charging points across 18 car parks in the borough.

Dacorum Borough Council aims to make the area carbon neutral by 2050.

It is hoped once the charing point rollout is completed that Hertfordshire will move into the top 20 counties when it comes to the number of available charging points.