Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Electric car cables across pavement / Highways Act
Has anyone experience of running an electric vehicle charging cable across the pavement? I've noticed a few people on the ladder do it, but the council appear to claim this breaches Part IX of the Highways Act 1980.
I assume the council are referring to section 178(1) which states the following:
No person shall fix or place any overhead beam, rail, pipe, cable, wire or other similar apparatus over, along or across a highway without the consent of the highway authority for the highway, and the highway authority may attach to their consent such reasonable terms and conditions as they think fit.
However even assuming charging your car across a pavement involves 'placing' a cable, the highway authority can consent to the placing of a cable, which implies it should be possible for Haringey counsel to give permission for this.
The council advice notice is here (and attached below):
https://www.haringey.gov.uk/sites/haringeygovuk/files/1346.26_plann...
Tags for Forum Posts: electric cars
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Permalink Reply by Gabriel on
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Thanks for the consultation link - will respond to that.
Ultimately the other solutions look good in theory, but realistically they are not going to come through in the next few years to make electric car ownership no fuss - which is necessary for wide adoption (and I understand there are technical issues with lamppost charging which are hard to solve).
This also feels to me like a problem the council has the power to correct today - it can consent to people charging by cable across the pavement, and impose conditions under the Highways Act (eg to use a low level brightly coloured cable protector). The two reasons I can see councils refusing are (a) fear of legal liability, and (b) accessibility. The first I think is completely minimal when you actually dig in to it (liability would likely sit with the individual charging the car, and in terms of insurance, it appears likely this actually is covered under car insurance policies - at least provided it is done legally, ie with council consent), and the latter doesn’t feel like that big an issue with appropriate precautions (a low rise cable protector is going to be a smaller trip hazard than the current state of the pavements, and has the added bonus of being brightly coloured). So I wonder if this is just standard nonsense “health and safety” concerns. Or am I missing something? - I don’t have mobility issues so very keen to hear from people who do.
I guess the next step is to actually ask the council, unless anyone else has ideas. Apparently some councils allow people to install charging trenches, which is the other way to go....
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Those both look like the only practical short-term solutions. But to be workable, wouldn't they still need to be accompanied by the allocation of a dedicated parking s[ace outside a resident's house? I don't know about your road, but Hewitt is pretty much at capacity and these days I could almost guarantee not being able to get a space outside my house after about 6.30 and often not at any time.
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Permalink Reply by Chris Setz on
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I think this problem will go away as range anxiety reduces and recharging becomes quicker. People accept refilling petrol cars far from home. Electric vehicles are becoming quicker to recharge and that will improve probably at similar rates to phone batteries.
Today it's possible for some low-mileage users to recharge completely during a weekly supermarket shop so not an issue. In cities we should all be low-mileage car users...
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Phone charging is an interesting comparison. But, charging anxiety hasn't gone away with phones. People carry charging cables and charging packs to ensure that they're not going to be caught out - and this is in a situation where charging outlets are ubiquitous, the item to be be charged is highly mobile and the charging cost negligible.
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Also the energy density of petrol is so high I’m sceptical car charging will ever be as fast (although there is some interesting tech out there).
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Permalink Reply by Jezza on
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I don't doubt fast charging will become fast enough for shopping etc, but the cost of fast chargers are many times what you would pay to charge at home - removing a large reason to get an electric car.
Eg. ionity charge 69p per kwh, Shell charge 41p, but at home it's 14p (maybe cheaper on overnight tarriff). If instead of it costing £10 to charge it's £30 every time, suddenly it's not such a good deal vs a petrol car. Great when you're on a trip but not a solution for day to day.
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Hi Jezza, thanks. Agree that fast charging is too expensive, it's a new form of fuel poverty waiting to happen. Corporates exploit the chance to ringfence yet another aspect.
The nearest entirely free charging point (choose payment->free on this map) is in a Supermarket 10 minutes away.
So it would be possible to keep a car in a house\flat around here and pay no charging costs at all...
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.... and walk 10 minutes to charge your car on a regular basis? I can't see that being too popular.
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Thanks Hugh.
Bet you go out for regular walks and would be easily able to drive to a charging point and carry on your walk with almost no marginal cost...
Anyhoo walking for ten minutes is very good for everyone and people do it regularly, more than ever nowadays - long may that continue.
If it's just once a week it'd be no biggie - people will have chosen when buying to pay this price.
A one hour charge could bank 100 miles in a modern car. Most London car journeys are short ones, so that might be enough for a week's casual use. If you need more than that it'll be for destinations you'll want to spend hours in anyway, and can therefore charge whilst doing whatever.
You could always drive to the park and charge whilst you walk around it - easy to build painless charging into your life.
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Permalink Reply by Sarah on
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that seems really close to me! But I don't drive. Every time I leave my flat it's to walk 10 minutes or more.
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Permalink Reply by Bob Ruggles on
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Worth a Call to your insurance company
Aware they have issues of vehicles not be near registered insurance address
Also Would they cover if cable was stolen or tampered with when you are not near by ?
Electric vehicles might be great if you have a Garage / Drive way. But issues when not
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What people do is charge as much as they can when it coincides - the car does not need to be filled up, it just needs enough to last until the next recharge. There are even enough charging points for you to drive to one nearby, walk back and return hours later. It's like visiting a petrol station - in the beginning people made special trips, now they integrate it into their use of the car.
People with cars, drive to places and then hang around. If you know you're going to spend a while somewhere, then if you can park (usually for free) at a charging point (sometimes free to charge there), you're going to amend your journey pattern to accommodate your new tech.
If you drive to work and back each day, you could keep a car around here if your employer has a charging point in the car park, or if you work near a charging point and can manage it etc...
It's not ideal, can be a pfaff, but at least you don't have to arrange for a person to walk in front of the car as you used to have to do:
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