Image source, Getty Images
Caernarfon might be a world heritage site – but at the moment it’s also a black hole when it comes to public electric car charging points
- Author, George Herd
- Role, BBC News
Driving home for Christmas? Then spare a thought for a tourist town that has become a black hole for electric cars.
Despite being a world heritage site attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors a year – and home to 10,000 people – Caernarfon in Gwynedd does not have a fully working public charging point.
The only fast charger in the town broke months ago – and eight new charge points installed by the council have never been connected to the electricity grid.
The area has been described as a “charging desert” by drivers searching online maps for electric hook-ups.
Eight chargers have been installed in Caernarfon – but never connected to the grid
An expert in low-carbon innovation said it showed just how large the challenge was to make the switch from petrol and diesel-fuelled cars to electric vehicles (EV).
“The amount of EV charging points we are going to have to have across Wales is going to be huge, and an awful lot more than we’ve got now” said Dr Debbie Jones.
She manages low carbon projects at the M-SParc, the Bangor University science park that sits across the Menai Strait from the Gwynedd town.
“It’s going to be one of the biggest challenges we face as we transition from petrol and diesel cars to electric vehicles,” she said.
“I think we really need to look at how we accelerate the positioning of that infrastructure across regions – especially rural regions – such as north Wales, to ensure we have the capacity to do that.”
Low carbon expert Dr Debbie Jones says the problems in Caernarfon highlight the wider challenge of expanding EV charging networks in Wales
Businessman Aled Jones travels from Bangor to his office in Caernarfon every day in an all-electric car.
But a lack of chargers in the town means he has to make sure he keeps topped up from home.
“You have to be quite organised and plan your trips,” he said.
He said the situation in Caernarfon was “a disappointment” – but could also prove to be an opportunity.
Aled Jones has to make sure his car is charged in Bangor before setting off for work in Caernarfon
“When I travel and stay away in hotels, I always look for whether the hotel has a charging point,” he said.
“So it could be an opportunity for businesses in the area to put in the infrastructure so it serves the population better.
“But next year, when there are more and more electric cars on the road, there will be even more pressure on the public charging points.”
Across the UK there are currently 49,000 EV charge points in place – with the vast majority in England, with 42,500 charging spots.
Metropolitan London having the highest number per population.
Looking at what that means for populations, for every 100,000 people living in inner London, there are 321 charging points.
In Wales, the county with the highest number of charging places per head is Ceredigion, which has 175 places per 100,00 people.
It means Wales is in third place when you count the number of charging points for the population – with only Northern Ireland below it.
In Neath Port Talbot – the area with the fewest charges points – it is just 15.5 charging points for every 100,000 residents.
But both the Welsh capital Cardiff, and Wales’ newest city Wrexham find themselves languishing in the bottom five for charging hotspots in Wales.
But as in the case of Caernarfon – the statistics only tell part of the story.
Gwynedd as a county sits in the top five places for charging points in Wales – at 124 per 100,000 – well above the likes of Birmingham (44 charging spots per 100,000) or Manchester (just 33 per 100,000 in the city itself).
But of 145 actual charging points stretching across the two Senedd seats that make up Gwynedd – Arfon and Dwyfor Meirionydd – just 39 are in the Arfon constituency, which includes Caernarfon and the university city of Bangor.
Bangor itself fairs relatively poorly – with just one fast charger available on a retail park for the entire city.
And again, at one major supermarket chain in the city, its charging points have not worked for well over a year.
The local authority, Cyngor Gwynedd, has pledged to improve the public charging position – with so much of its geography geared towards tourism and the visitor economy, including much of the Eryri national park, also known as Snowdonia.
It plans to develop more than 100 charging points at sites under its control in the coming months.
“Our aim is is to encourage and facilitate sustainable travel in the county by encouraging the use of electric vehicles by local residents and visitors to travel to all parts of Gwynedd,” it said.
The council and electricity network say they are now in direct talks to resolve issues at the car park as soon as possible
But it admits it is not always an easy project – stating the so-far powerless site in Caernarfon has “proved challenging”.
The eight brand new charging points were installed at the town’s long-stay car park at Victoria Dock back in the summer.
There is still no sign of them being connected to a working electricity supply.
The council initially said it was “doing all we can to urge Scottish Power… to complete the necessary work”.
However, the electricity firm, which operates under the name SP Energy Networks in Wales, said it was forced to refund a contract for the connection work back in August because the necessary permissions had not been finalised by the council.
Both parties say they are now in direct talks to resolve the situation.
“We hope that the necessary work can be completed by Scottish Power as soon as possible,” added the council official.
Realistically, it will be the new year before the connections are made and Caernarfon can be pulled out of its charging black hole.
Which will bring little Christmas joy to those making the journey to visit friends and relatives, or taking a festive break.
At least one special visitor will be prepared – as we all know – Santa’s sleigh relies on magic and reindeers – not EV charging points.
