Have you had a groove cut in the pavement for charging?

[ashenfie]

It would be interesting to hear from people who have applied to the counsel to put a groove in the pavement for EV charging.

Things like how much did it cost
Did you need a license to have the pavement dug up
Do you have a right to park outside your house
Do you have insurance coverage through the house or you car
What kind of street or road do you live on
Whats you experience of using it
Any complaints

Ideally people who actually have applied should respond.

[johnnyreggae]

The Government announcement on July 13 2025 of a little assistance for this probably means its several years if ever before it gets signed off - I doubt most councils (& insurers) even know of its existence let alone have it in place

[plfrench]

Try speaking Alison of West Bridgford, Nottingham - I'm sure she'd be happy to share her thoughts with you and answer any questions you have!

https://www.kerbocharge.com/locations/nottinghamsh...

Edited by plfrench on Tuesday 22 July 09:35

[B5mike]

A non-PH friend from Oxford was part of the early installation trial. Here are his comments:

How much did it cost - I was on a trial so no cost so far, but the new grant for 500 gullies in Oxford will cost a successful applicant £300 one-off to install and use for the first two years, and then £100 pa after that. I was asked to produce an annual Electrical Installation Condition Report (approx £100-130) but that hasn’t been followed up on as yet.

Did you need a license to have the pavement dug up - No, the council handled all of that.

Do you have a right to park outside your house - No and I don’t expect the right to be granted. I would ask for the gully to be installed so that you can charge in at least two parks in front of your house if you have them (e.g. if your EV charging port is at the front of the car then for one of the parks you reverse direction to allow the cable to be plugged in).

Do you have insurance coverage through the house or your car - Insurance cover is through my home insurer but I think car cover might be available as well.

What kind of street or road do you live on - One way with parking on either side at different points.

Whats your experience of using it - Absolutely 100% great. Off peak charging a massive saving. Availability of a park in theory an issue in practice for my 8,000 miles pa and 270-300 mile range EV has never been an issue.

Any complaints - none whatsoever. As I was a trialist I haven’t paid anything yet, but even if I did the savings pa are in the £1,000+ compared with public charging. And the convenience is brilliant. Wouldn’t hesitate to install. An asset to your home.

[ashenfie]

It’s interesting that Cambridge offered a grant, as that makes it far more cost effective as the groove alone would cost around £1000 and the you still need a charger. I guess the ongoing £100 per year would easily offset by saving.

[Evanivitch]

ashenfie said:

It s interesting that Cambridge offered a grant, as that makes it far more cost effective as the groove alone would cost around £1000 and the you still need a charger. I guess the ongoing £100 per year would easily offset by saving.

7000 miles a year at (low-end) 55p/kWh is £1,283.
At 7p/kWh it's £163.

[Sarkmeister]

I applied almost a couple of years ago to be part of the trial. On a number of occasions someone came round to inspect the pavement outside my house to see if it was suitable and it was confirmed that the kerb isn't suitable (there is no raised kerb on our street, ie there are parking bays along the street and the kerb between them and the pavement is flat and not raised at all). I questioned this but was told it wouldn't be possible. Lots of the channels have been installed on nearby streets, I'd suggest 3 or 4 per street around here (West Bridgford, Nottingham).

[OutInTheShed]

Most places I've lived, areas nearby with few driveways would struggle to make this work.
Simply too many cars and too low a chance of parking outside your own house.

I think in many places this will only work in conjunction with much more controlled parking.
Which becomes a can of worms with everyone needing (expensive) permits.
Once you start laying out spaces where everyone can park tidily and legally outside their own house, you may find there are simply too many cars and not enough spaces?
Also should this be extended to properties with a driveway, where multi-car households park in the road?

Another point, some people might consider whether they need a slot or some other 'cable management' even if they're charging on their own drive.
Postmen and Evri persons tripping over cables and going expensively base over apex?

[Evanivitch]

OutInTheShed said:

Most places I've lived, areas nearby with few driveways would struggle to make this work.
Simply too many cars and too low a chance of parking outside your own house.

I think in many places this will only work in conjunction with much more controlled parking.
Which becomes a can of worms with everyone needing (expensive) permits.
Once you start laying out spaces where everyone can park tidily and legally outside their own house, you may find there are simply too many cars and not enough spaces?
Also should this be extended to properties with a driveway, where multi-car households park in the road?

Another point, some people might consider whether they need a slot or some other 'cable management' even if they're charging on their own drive.
Postmen and Evri persons tripping over cables and going expensively base over apex?

It's not about guaranteeing a spot outside your home every day. But if you have a 200-300 mile car then even once a week is sufficient charge to cover most of your needs.

[ashenfie]

I started this thread and suspected finding someone who actually has one cut would be slim. I suspect it workable for a relatively small number of people who live in low density parking area. The cost factor seams to be around £2k without any potential grant. The government has 25m towards promoting the idea but not resolve the issue of non compliance with the electrical regulations, which seams odd.
The £25m could have been spent on research into reducing charging station costs. This would benefit far more people without the drawbacks of street charging.

[Simon_GH]

I wonder whether street parking may one day resort to bays numbered for your house. A bit tricky if you live in a narrow terrace with many cars but probably the only option for pure EV motoring without a driveway.

[ashenfie]

Simon_GH said:

I wonder whether street parking may one day resort to bays numbered for your house. A bit tricky if you live in a narrow terrace with many cars but probably the only option for pure EV motoring without a driveway.

TBH while I have private parking 50m away from the house, I do park out front sometimes, It a high completion parking area, even so I don’t want wardens, fees and arguments about parking. Some people have 2 cars others none . So what is reasonable and fare?

[OutInTheShed]

Evanivitch said:

It's not about guaranteeing a spot outside your home every day. But if you have a 200-300 mile car then even once a week is sufficient charge to cover most of your needs.

That's always going to end up with needing the space outside your house one night.
If somebody for instance actually drove their EV out of the county and came home with insufficient charge for their next day's needs.

Covering most of your needs doesn't cut it. Mostly not running out of charge is no more acceptable than 'the wheels mostly go around'.

Where I lived for a while in Bristol, my chances of parking outside my home were close to nil. You don't own the road outside your house, so I couldn't complain when someone else parked there. In places like that, nobody sane is going to pay the council significant money without some sort of guarantee of a space.

I don't think we can avoid the issue that many areas have more cars than can easily be parked.
In many places, it's only possible to park all the cars by using bits of pavement, parking close to junctions etc.

One of these trials is Cambridge isn't it?
An 'anti-car city with very few normal people' if ever there was one.

Most of the rest of the country is avoiding the heffalump in the room, there are too many cars.

[Evanivitch]

OutInTheShed said:

That's always going to end up with needing the space outside your house one night.
If somebody for instance actually drove their EV out of the county and came home with insufficient charge for their next day's needs.

Then come home with sufficient charge for the next day?

OutInTheShed said:

Covering most of your needs doesn't cut it. Mostly not running out of charge is no more acceptable than 'the wheels mostly go around'.

I've never owned a car that can fit a double mattress, or 6 passengers, or drive to Scotland on one tank, or has 4wd. Weird to pretend any car does all your needs.

OutInTheShed said:

Where I lived for a while in Bristol, my chances of parking outside my home were close to nil. You don't own the road outside your house, so I couldn't complain when someone else parked there. In places like that, nobody sane is going to pay the council significant money without some sort of guarantee of a space.

Then don't. If you want to make corner cases then crack on, I won't stop you.

[ashenfie]

Evanivitch said:

OutInTheShed said:

That's always going to end up with needing the space outside your house one night.
If somebody for instance actually drove their EV out of the county and came home with insufficient charge for their next day's needs.

Then come home with sufficient charge for the next day?

OutInTheShed said:

Covering most of your needs doesn't cut it. Mostly not running out of charge is no more acceptable than 'the wheels mostly go around'.

I've never owned a car that can fit a double mattress, or 6 passengers, or drive to Scotland on one tank, or has 4wd. Weird to pretend any car does all your needs.

OutInTheShed said:

Where I lived for a while in Bristol, my chances of parking outside my home were close to nil. You don't own the road outside your house, so I couldn't complain when someone else parked there. In places like that, nobody sane is going to pay the council significant money without some sort of guarantee of a space.

Then don't. If you want to make corner cases then crack on, I won't stop you.

My current car does everything I need, it’s far more strange
You buy a car that does not surely?

[essayer]

Why do you have to pay £100 per year for a hole in the ground

[Evanivitch]

ashenfie said:

My current car does everything I need, it s far more strange
You buy a car that does not surely?

If you can tell where where I can buy a sub-1000kg modern sports car that sits a family of four with 2 child seats, I'm all ears.

[survivalist]

99%+ of car buyers don’t give moneys how much their car weighs, which is why no one caters for practical cars that weigh less than 1000Kg.

A significant number of car buyers do care how easy it it’s to refuel, which is why those without home charging aren’t generally keen on EVs.

[ashenfie]

Evanivitch said:

ashenfie said:

My current car does everything I need, it s far more strange
You buy a car that does not surely?

If you can tell where where I can buy a sub-1000kg modern sports car that sits a family of four with 2 child seats, I'm all ears.

Plenty of sports cars that can handle a family of four and car seats. Not many buy their cars by the kg.

[A500leroy]

plfrench said:

Try speaking Alison of West Bridgford, Nottingham - I'm sure she'd be happy to share her thoughts with you and answer any questions you have!

https://www.kerbocharge.com/locations/nottinghamsh...

Edited by plfrench on Tuesday 22 July 09:35

Sounds like a great way to claim compensation when people don't use it properly and someone trips over it.