UK Power Networks has revised guidance to use lamp posts as street charging for EVs.

After a series of studies undertaken by the distribution network operator for London, the South and East of England, 5KW chargepoints can be installed even on older lamp posts which have thinner cabling than more modern installations.

Working with the UK’s largest public charge point operator, Shell ubitricity to undertake technical assessments, technical guidance has been updated to give confidence to the energy industry to deliver a large-scale roll-out of lamp post charging.

The study came after some local authorities on the South Coast of England were ordered to stop installing lamp post chargers on older legacy columns with different wiring. Local authorities own and operate streetlights, with distribution network operators like UK Power Networks delivering the power to them.

Local authorities will also now be able to push ahead with their plans to increase the number of chargers through the government’s Local EV Infrastructure Fund. ubitricity internally estimates that for a budget of £1m local authorities could roll out 700-800 lamp post chargers compared to 60-75 Fast Dual charge points (7-22kW) or 20-25 Rapid Single charge points.

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