A Cumbrian seaside town has been transformed into a paradise for people driving electric vehicle cars.
AmpEV has installed thirty six 22KW superfast electric vehicle charging points in a variety of public spaces in Barrow-in-Furness. It is part of Westmorland and Furness Council’s continuing drive to improve the air quality for families living in the seaside town.
It is also leading to a boost in visitors, with the council’s tourism team busy shouting out to electric vehicle drivers across the UK that Barrow is a forward-thinking and welcoming destination. The results are impressive, and are improving all the time.
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In the past 12 months alone, AmpEV’s new charging points have saved 22,196 kg of carbon dioxide and 44 kg of nitrogen dioxide from polluting the local environment. That’s the equivalent of planting 843 new trees through the creation of 118,099 electric vehicle miles.
There have been 343 unique drivers and 1,982 sessions during this time, with the numbers rising sharply as more people become aware of what’s on offer. There is a handsome financial benefit too – Westmorland and Furness Council has received £16,670.61 in revenue from the new EV charging points.
The prices for drivers have been capped due to the conditions attached to the European funding which has supported the ambitious scheme. Westmorland and Furness Council is delighted with the success of its green initiative and is keen to be seen as a trailblazer for other local authorities to follow in the dream of achieving net zero carbon targets.
AmpEV Managing Director Alasdair Croft said: “The primary objective of our partnership with Westmorland and Furness Council was to reduce their carbon footprint. Secondly, they were very keen to make Barrow more attractive for tourism and to give a boost to their local economy. This is a really beautiful part of the world. Because of their geographical location, with people having to travel through Cumbria to get to Barrow, they want the way that people get there to be as clean as possible.
“Creating good air quality is a major concern for them. Long term, they’d love to see the use of combustion engines travelling through their area reducing substantially, and they can help to do that through making it as easy as possible to support people who want to drive there using electric vehicles. It is the way the world is going – Westmorland and Furness is a very forward-thinking council.”
Alasdair has been very pleased with the figures from the last year of operation, and from the response from local residents and visitors. He said: “The figures for people using the electric charging points have been increasing every month.
“There has been a lovely linear line going up as more and more people get to know about the chargers’ availability. The charging points are all over Barrow, mainly in public car parks, and they even have two in one of their cemeteries. Our software allows us to watch and analyse the data in real detail. We can even see how many charging points are being used and when, along with the progressive figures towards becoming carbon neutral.
“The numbers we have seen speak for themselves as to how successful this initiative has been. Westmorland and Furness Council’s tourism officers are speaking to as many people as possible to let them know that the EV charging points are available to encourage more electric vehicle drivers to travel to Barrow.
“They are really thinking outside the box with what they want to achieve. For example, they have a small island, Piel Island, which is a mile out to sea from Barrow and is not connected to the electricity grid. It has just four terraced houses, a Listed castle and a pub.
“It attracts 20,000 people a year for wild camping. They engaged AmpEV to support their ambition of making Piel Island carbon neutral. We installed a 13KW ground mounted solar system with a battery energy system, to offset the diesel generator that had previously been utilised by the pub. The motivation to do this is that if the UK is to become a carbon neutral island, then we have to first work out how to make our smaller islands carbon neutral.”
AmpEV, based in Southport, was founded in 2017 and employs eight full-time members of staff in addition to four freelancers who specialise in electric vehicle charge point design, installation and maintenance. The firm started by installing domestic EV charging points before installing commercial public charging points.
It has completed projects as far north as Dunfermline and as far south as London, with other places covered including Edinburgh, Liverpool, Birkenhead, the Lake District, Wales, Bristol, Milton Keynes and Bristol. Projects have been completed for clients including local authorities, businesses, defence contractors, hotels, housing associations, universities, colleges and others.
