The Head of Corporate Strategy has submitted a report to seek approval to commission an EV Strategy.

Cabinet is recommended to:

1.    Approve the commissioning of Oxford City Council’s EV Strategy, which will set out the strategic framework for the delivery of EV infrastructure in line with the city’s 2040 net zero carbon target; and

2.    Note the update provided on Oxford City Council’s EV Programme.

The Head of Corporate Strategy had submitted a report to seek approval to commission an EV Strategy.

Councillor Tom Hughes, Cabinet Member for Green Transport and Zero Carbon Oxford, introduced the report. The report sought agreement to proceed with the commissioning of an EV strategy as part of a contribution to the City’s 2040 net zero carbon target.

In response to points made earlier in the meeting he confirmed that Go Ultra Low  Taxi charging points would also be available for public use.

The Chair noted that this was matter of ever increasing public interest, not least in respect of the issues for the many parts of the City with terraced housing and no access to off street parking. The relatively high costs of charging via a public charging point as compared with a domestic one was fuelling this debate. It was agreed that communications/responses to questions about this were particularly important pending completion of the strategy.

It would probably be desirable to consider the extent to which charging points installed by other organisations such as the universities might, also, be made available to the public.

The provision of charging points throughout the City raised some interesting challenges. On the one hand they needed to be placed, ideally by the Council, where there was the greatest likelihood of uptake on the other it was important to ensure that those parts of the City where there was less likelihood of immediate uptake were not disenfranchised from what would be an increasingly important development.

Cllr Hayes concluded  by noting that neither the  Council nor ODS would have capacity to provide all the charging points which would eventually  be required but it could, via the strategy, facilitate their installation and on the Council’s terms. The strategy would make clear that the introduction of electric vehicles would not provide all the answers and that other means of transport within the City would be encouraged wherever possible.

Cabinet resolved to:

1.    Approve the commissioning of Oxford City Council’s EV Strategy, which will set out the strategic framework for the delivery of EV infrastructure in line with the city’s 2040 net zero carbon target; and

2.    Note the update provided on Oxford City Council’s EV Programme

Cabinet, at its meeting on 21 July, will consider a report on the Oxfordshire Electric Vehicle Strategy. The Committee is asked to consider the report and agree any recommendations thereon.

Councillor Tom Hayes, Cabinet Member for Green Transport and Zero Carbon Oxford; and  Mish Tullar, Head of Corporate Strategy have been invited to attend for this item. 

Cllr Tom Hayes, Cabinet Member for Green Transport and Zero Carbon Oxford, introduced the report which sought approval to proceed with commissioning the Council’s EV strategy. This would  shape a citywide approach to EV charging provision by Charge Point Operators and determine the Council’s own future role in the EV world, one in which it had some agency. He would be pleased to return to Scrutiny in March 2022  to discuss the strategy once complete. 

The Committee raised a number of questions and comments about the report. The inclusion of some references to accessibility, not seen in an earlier draft, were most welcome. Further references to innovation in new vehicles and the desirability of ensuring accessibility in hire schemes (such as Co Wheels) and scooter schemes would be helpful . Motability use of electric vehicles is very limited and the Council might use its position of influence to encourage a more flexible approach. The reference to the EV charging infrastructure to be “a vehicle for inclusivity and unobstructive to those making the use of pavements” was welcome and could be usefully linked with the question at 32 g of the report with a reference, for example, to the need for accessible green transport.  It would be helpful for the strategy to take account of the Centre for Social Justice’s recommendations on transport and its recent report on disability. The term vulnerable drivers might be better replaced by “Drivers with protected characteristics and other needs”. In relation to destination charging there would perhaps be merit in enabling residents to make use of some of those charging points at a reduced rate at non-peak times.

Paragraphs 16 and 17, making the connection between electric vehicles and the wish to reduce the number of vehicles in the City overall, were seen to be key and a greater emphasis on the connection between them would be helpful. In response the Committee was reminded that this was not intended as a scoping document but rather a Cabinet report to set the context for the strategy commissioning process.

The Committee suggested that the paper needed to address the question of priorities. This was the subject of discussion concluding with a vote in favour of a proposal, as recorded below.

The final costs of the EV charging rollout were likely to be very considerable but it was not possible at this stage to quantify them. Implementation would be through a mix of private sector and public funding, with the majority likely to be via the private sector.

In relation to the eventual financing of EV charge point installation it was desirable that it should be subject to some ethical funding principles in recognition, for example, of the exploitation of some companies of the “Global South”. It was likely that there would be opportunities for ODS to contribute to the installation of EV charge point infrastructure to the benefit of everyone as well as acting as a market disruptor, a market which, if left to its own devices,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32