Brighton & Hove has become the location of char.gy’s 5,000th public EV charger, marking a major milestone for the company’s rapidly growing kerbside network across the UK.
The installation underscores how on-street charging is shifting from a niche pilot to a mainstream solution for drivers without access to off-street parking.
The Brighton rollout forms part of an ambitious citywide plan to deploy around 6,000 kerbside charge points, one of the largest on-street charging programmes in the UK and currently the largest outside London. For a city where most residents rely on on-street parking, the expansion is helping remove one of the biggest barriers to EV ownership.
Other councils are also scaling up fast. Reading Borough Council has partnered with char.gy to install around 2,600 charge points, aiming for at least 90% of households without off-street parking to be within 100 metres of a public charger. On the Isle of Wight, more than 1,500 charge points are planned, extending practical EV charging access to communities beyond the mainland.
Around 40 per cent of UK homes lack off-street parking, making convenient local charging essential if more households are to switch to electric vehicles. char.gy’s approach uses existing street furniture, such as lamp columns, to install chargers with minimal disruption while increasing coverage at the kerbside.
The network is powered by renewable electricity supplied through EDF and backed by Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin certificates, meaning the electricity used is matched with renewable generation fed into the UK grid. This combines easier access to charging with lower-carbon energy.
char.gy CEO John Lewis said the milestone represents thousands of households now able to consider going electric, while EDF’s Raghav Singh said the network’s growth shows how quickly accessible, renewable-powered charging is expanding to support drivers without off-street parking.
The chargers are available through the Zapmap app, where users can locate chargers, check live availability, and pay for sessions.
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