By the Principal Commissioning Officer (Sue Fox).

Sue Fox, Senior Project Manager gave an update on the Borough’s pool cars and electric vehicle charging points. She stated a report went to Cabinet in September 2017 which looked at transferring out the current pool cars and reducing the number of vehicles in the fleet and changing them to electric or hybrid vehicles. The council were trying to encourage more members of staff to use the pool cars. There were currently 13 petrol Mini’s in the fleet on a three year lease with an annual mileage of 10k miles per year per car; the lease was in its final year but the cars were averaging just 7k miles per year. The Senior Project Manager had carried out some analysis on the type of trip and length of trip and where the cars were kept. She added that she was looking at potentially making them available for public use.

The Senior Project Manager stated she had been looking at different models of delivery and hoping to reduce the size of the fleet. She said it would be advisable to maintain four of the 10 petrol cars due to some trips being carried out that were very long distant and the average range of an electric vehicle was 100 miles. The Senior Project Manager was looking at hybrid models which had a petrol generator which gave double the range; the cars did not have two engines like other hybrid models.

Looking at electric charging points, the Senior Project Manager said she was looking at potential locations. There could be four charging points at the Town Hall in the North Yard and four points at the tinkers Lane Depot.

The Council’s current car pool contract was with Alpha City; they were only able to provide a BMW i3 with or without the range extender but, they had the capability for a car club so that the public could use the cars in the evenings and at weekends. One issue for the car club was insurance. The Council’s current insurance only covered staff using the vehicles and not the public. That would need to be managed and a solution agreed. The other issue with running a car club was where the cars would be left when not being used. The Town Hall would be fine but, not the North yard.

The charging points would be for Council use so they would not need pay as you go technology for that usage. The Senior Project Manager had also been looking at charging points for charging public vehicles on the street. There were already a couple of charging points installed at Hines Meadow car park which were pay as you go to charge. She added it was very difficult to get the electricity feed to the charging points if they were to be installed in the North Yard.

The Senior Project Manager was in talks with providers that could potentially provide a car club scheme. One of those providers was Enterprise that already ran a car club scheme which the Council could buy into. The Council could block book vehicles for a working week and they could then be used at weekends and in the evenings by the public. They used clever technology that worked out if it was cheaper to spot hire a vehicle or, use the car club so potentially saving the user money. If the Council talked to joint venture partners and developers, and the decision was made to all sign up to a car club scheme, the Council could potentially save money. Surrey Council had introduced a car club scheme which used staff pool cars and charging people to use their cars.

The Senior Project Manager explained her team had asked residents to nominate locations around the Borough where charging points could be installed. The charging points were eligible for up to 75% grant funding and some companies that installed the points offered to make up the last 25%. Once installed, users would either subscribe to a payment service or, use a pay as you go style system. In order to nominate where residents wanted to see charging points, they could go online and pin point where they most wanted them to be installed.

The next step was to assess feasibility and look at what parking restrictions at locations were like and how to reserve parking bays for electric vehicles with relevant controls such as length of maximum stay. Residents did not want to contribute to pay for charging points to be installed and there was no commitment in joining the scheme.

Councillor Werner said he had seen charging points in lampposts in other Borough’s. the Senior Project Manager confirmed that she had looked into those types of charging points but, the Borough’s lampposts were usually at the back of the pavement and so would leave cables trailing when a car was on charge. She was looking at putting together 10 sites as a pilot bid for funding which needed to be deliverable as the Council had to spend the funds in year. There had been a lot of interest despite the scheme not being publicised yet. Councillor Werner stated there would be a lot of disappointed residents if there were only to be 10 sites. The Senior Project Manager said that all sites had to be assessed. The bid would be for a minimum of sites to get the scheme up and running. There would be a zero cost for the installation of the charging points.

Councillor Werner stated he noticed that new public car parks in the Borough would not have charging points. He queried if it was sensible not to future proof the car parks. The Senior Project Manager stated the Borough did not have a standard for developers when building car parks but, when discussing that with developers, they were keen to install them anyway. The Head of Communities, Enforcement & Partnerships confirmed the Braywick Leisure Centre would have the infrastructure to ensure all parking spaces had a charging point. Councillor Werner stated Broadway Car Park was not future proofed to the same standard and he wanted officers to talk to developers regarding that.

The Senior Project Manager confirmed that she had not had any feedback from Surrey Council regarding their car club scheme. She had meetings coming up with potential providers and she was conscious of just how flexible the car club could be in reality. She added it would be advantageous to have a mix of vehicles if the public were to use them but, she did not want to be constrained by the type of vehicle for the pool cars.

The Chairman thanked officers as a lot of work had gone into the potential scheme so far and she looked forward to an update in due course.

v  Action – The Senior Project manager to bring regular progress updates to the Sustainability Panel as and when they were available.