Nationally, evidence has shown that most plug-in vehicle owners prefer to charge their car at home most of the time. This is also shown to be true locally in Oxford; we surveyed local people and found that most would prefer to charge up an electric car at home if they had one.

Around 28% of households in Oxford (over 41,000 people) live in terraced houses. Many of these houses don’t have a driveway or garage so people who live there have to park their car on the street.

This makes it difficult to charge up an electric car at home:

• Government funding for a home car charger can only be used if you have a private off-road place to park like a garage or drive.
• Electric cables trailing across the pavement from houses can be dangerous and make it difficult for others to pass.
• Other charging points in car parks or rapid chargers at service stations can be inconvenient to use as your only way of charging.

This means that many people in our city who might like to drive an electric car are not able to because of where they live. We get regular emails from residents in the city asking for our help.

Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council are now working together on the Go Ultra Low Oxford Project to find a solution for this problem.