Streetspace Invaders: Mitigating the growing risk that EV charging poses to scarce pedestrian space

This report, written in collaboration with inclusive cycling charity Wheels for Wellbeing, warns that the rollout of public infrastructure for electric vehicle (EV) charging points could significantly impact Disabled people and jeopardise targets to increase walking and wheeling trips.

“Our investigation reveals that space is being taken from pedestrians and given to private cars instead of the other way around.

Ensuring active travel is a viable option for all is just as important for meeting climate targets as changing the way cars are fuelled, but to do that, we need to be removing clutter from footways, not adding to it.” Leo Murray, co-director at Possible.

Best practice guidance from Transport for London is clear that EV chargepoints should be installed on kerb buildouts in parking spaces rather than on pavements. However, the figures show that London councils have installed four times as many EV chargepoints on pavements than they have in converted parking spaces so far.

Pavement installations can have a profound impact on the already generally poor quality of the walking and wheeling environment for people with additional mobility challenges, particularly wheelchair users and those with visual impairments. By making footways more difficult to navigate for all pedestrians, they are also likely to deter walking and wheeling trips more widely, at a time when councils are supposed to be supporting residents to make more.

Freedom of Information requests to London councils revealed that across the 32 local authorities, just nine have policies on EV charger placement which presume against installing them on pavements, while 15 have no policy at all.