A major public consultation has been launched to assess Bristol’s existing chargepoint network for electric vehicles.

The organisations running the process want to hear from any current user of the network - or people who would like to operate an electric vehicle in the future - on how Bristol’s electric chargepoint network should be run, managed and supported.

The consultation process includes a survey and focus groups, and is run by Bristol City Council partners Cenex with the Energy Saving Trust (EST).

Cenex and EST are working together to strategically assess the existing chargepoint network, identify any issues, and find where additional infrastructure needs to go.

Councillor Kye Dudd, cabinet member for energy at Bristol City Council, said: “Bristol has a proud history of leading by example in the action against climate change and has committed to be a city that runs entirely on clean energy by 2050.

"The move towards electric vehicles is one that the council is keen to support and will help us to make significant improvements to our air quality.

"As well as upgrading our own vehicle fleet, we’re determined to meet local demand for charging points to enable as many local residents and businesses as possible to own and run electric vehicles in the future.”

In January 2016, Bristol - bidding with the West of England authorities - was awarded £7.1million of funding over five years through the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) to promote the uptake of electric vehicles, including plug-in hybrids, across the region.

As part of its Go Ultra-Low West (GULW) programme, Bristol City Council aims to use its funding to install around 120 new public electric vehicle charging points across Bath and North-East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

Cenex will be identifying candidate sites for public infrastructure, and will be assessing their feasibility working with the Distribution Network Operator and local authorities.

EST are leading on stakeholder engagement of the project to gather views and opinions of the chargepoint network.

GULW’s headline target is to reach 5,000 new electric vehicle registrations per year by 2020, and therefore must meet anticipated demand for public charging points, potentially adding up to 200 additional chargepoints.

The online survey asks questions related to how the network is run, accessed, experiences, and people’s driving habits, such as vehicle type, mileage etc. The survey is live until Friday, March 9, and everyone taking part will be entered into a prize draw to win £100 worth of Amazon vouchers.

To complete the online survey, visit: http://bit.ly/2BVaCHv

Focus groups will be held during the week of February, 19, 2018, and anyone interested in attending should email transportadvice@est.org.uk.

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