Electric Car Home Charging Points Come To UK

npower's Easy Box Juice Point, designed for home and small business use

One of the key challenges facing the electric car is the lack of a suitable charging infrastructure in the UK, which makes it hard to use an electric car for any but the shortest journeys.

This problems is gradually being addressed; I wrote recently about the ‘electric highway’ of roadside charging points being created by green electricity company Ecotricity.

Now, another piece of the jigsaw is falling into place; home charging. Two UK companies have recently announced that they will start fitting home charging points for electric cars.

Power company npower has announced a range of charging points aimed at home users and small businesses. The charging points will be called Juice Points and three models will be available:

• Easy Box Juice Point (home users & small businesses);
• Smart Box Juice Point (car parks and offices – faster charging);
• Smart Station Juice Point (can charge two cars simaltaneously, designed for public use).

For more information, visit www.npower.com/campaigns/ev/charging/

A second company, Chargemaster, has also announced a range of home charging points that will form part of a national scheme called Polar.

Chargemaster’s home charging points will cost £95 to install and will incur a monthly fee of between £19.50 and £32.50. Customers buying new electric cars from Nissan, Renault and Vauxhall will be able to order a charging point when they buy their cars, and Citroen, Mitsubishi and Peugeot are expected to offer a similar arrangement soon.

For more information, visit www.chargemasterplc.com.

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