NEW electric vehicle chargepoints are now ready to use in five car parks in Dorset - with more to be switched on in the coming weeks.

Electric vehicle chargepoints have been installed and are now live at Wollaston Field car park, Dorchester; Gas Lane, Gillingham; Old Market Yard, Sherborne; The Hub car park, Verwood; and King Street car park, Wimborne.

The installation of the new chargepoints is one of a number of measures in Dorset Council’s ambition to become zero carbon by 2040 and helps to meet several actions in its Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy Action Plan.

More car charging points will be ready to use in the coming weeks. Including the five sites where charging points are already switched on, a total of 17 council-owned car parks across the Dorset Council area will have the new electric car charging facilities - with each location having a minimum of two chargepoints.

The other sites include Fairfield long stay, Dorchester; Holmbush, Lyme Regis; Coldharbour and Old Market Yard, Sherborne; West Bay Road, West Bay; and Governor’s Lane, Melcombe Regis, and Swannery car parks in Weymouth.

Cllr Ray Bryan, Dorset Council’s Portfolio Holder for Highways, Travel and Environment, said: “Dorset has an important role to play in helping to tackle the climate and ecological emergency.

“We're committed to becoming a carbon-neutral council by 2040 at the latest, and making other changes needed to help the whole of Dorset become carbon-neutral by 2050. Providing drivers with more chargepoints for their electric vehicles is an exciting step towards this.

“The government plans to phase out sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030, so it is important drivers are offered more sustainable travel options now.”

Joju Charging, an energy service provider, installed the chargepoints. Installation and management costs were met by Joju and their funding partners Grønn Kontakt, a renewable energy company.

Cllr Bryan said: “We are grateful to Joju Charging and their partners Grønn Kontakt for funding both the installation and management of this scheme and for their enthusiasm and hard work in getting us to this stage.”

Chas Warlow from Joju said: “We are very happy to be working with Dorset Council on the roll-out of electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the county, to help the county move to a low-carbon future.

“The fast (22kW) chargepoints we are installing are supplied with 100% renewable energy and will enable drivers to charge their electric vehicles while visiting the county’s towns”.

A quick top-up (a charge of 15 minutes) will enable a journey of about 15 miles, or a full charge will take 2-4 hours, depending on the vehicle.

To see the locations of all Dorset’s chargepoints visit www.zap-map.com

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