Charging electric vehicles in Kent

There are many ways you can charge an electric vehicle (EV) in Kent.

You can find public chargers in:

• town centres
• supermarkets
• restaurants
• workplaces
• petrol stations.

Most new electric cars have a range of at least 200 miles, so often, people do not need to charge at home.

Charging points

Public charging

View public charging points in ZapMap, or rent charging time from homeowners with a charger using a service like Co-Charger.

On street charging

We are aware of the recently announced government grant to help residents without driveways or private parking to purchase and install EV charge points at residential properties if they are also installing a cross-pavement charging solution.

The government has also recently published guidance for local authorities, providing information on the areas, regulations and processes to consider when forming policy surrounding cross-pavement EV charging solutions. We are currently reviewing our policies to determine if and how the safe and effective use of cross-pavement solutions can be integrated into our highway authority function.

To inform this work, a small trial is planned for spring 2025. As part of the trial, we will particularly need to focus on a variety of concerns raised surrounding:

• pedestrian safety
• planned and reactive street works
• asset ownership
• checks and compliances
• liabilities and impact on residential parking.

We will update this page when a decision has been made as to whether we will permit the installation of cross pavement EV charging solutions.

If you would like to be kept updated about the trial, email electricvehicles@kent.gov.uk.

Driveway charging

If you have a driveway, you can use the 3-pin charging cable provided by your car's manufacturer to charge directly from your home energy supply. Speak with your electricity provider about tariffs to support efficient charging.

For faster charging, you could consider installing a dedicated vehicle charger. The UK Government's Electric Vehicle Homecharge Grant helps some households with up to 75% of the installation costs.

If your charger faces onto the street and is installed within 2 metres of the road or pavement, you may need planning permission to install it. Speak to your district council if you are unsure.

Private off-road parking

If you have private parking that is separated from your home, for example a garage or parking bay within a residential parking area, you may think about installing a private charger.

The UK Government's Electric Vehicle Homecharge Grant helps some households with up to 75% of the installation costs.

If the connection of electricity from your home to the charger would need work done to, or under, a public highway (roads maintained by us), you'll need to employ a contractor to do the work who:

• holds £5 million of Public Liability Insurance cover
• is New Roads and Street Works Act (NRSWA) accredited
• will apply for a Section 50 licence to place apparatus on the highway
• will ensure no part of the parking bay, or any part of the charging vehicle, is within 2.5m of any other electrical equipment, such as a lamp column. Additional works may need to be carried out to existing infrastructure to ensure there is no enhanced electrocution risk to yourself or other highway users.

If the road is not managed by us, you do not require our permission to install a charger but you will need permission from the management company responsible for the road.

Improving charging in Kent

We're working with other councils in Kent to install over 600 public chargers in their car parks and are beginning to install up to 10,000 on-street EV chargers. Hopefully this will help you if you own an EV and do not have off-road parking. Read more about our work to improve Kent's electric vehicle infrastructure.

The Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund (LEVI)

We are working on a LEVI project to install on-street chargers across the county. This project aims to install chargers primarily in locations where residents don’t have access to private parking or their own driveway.

More information about the LEVI project can be found on the Let's Talk Kent website, as well as on our news page.

We are currently identifying potential locations for on street charging points and welcome your thoughts, especially if you own an EV or are thinking about making the switch. The interactive map can be found on the Let's Talk Kent website.

Some district councils place public EV chargers on-street using their own powers. We are looking at the options of a wider roll out of public EV chargers designed for those without access to off-street parking.