Town Electric Vehicle Charging.

I am not aware of any law or regulation that specifically permits or prohibits the placing of a cable across the footway for vehicle charging.

There are laws against obstructing the highway, but opinions are divided as to whether a charging cable is an obstruction.

National law says not to hinder or endanger other users of the pavement, and there may be additional  local bylaws, as already there are in some towns about advertising boards outside shops,  and chairs outside cafes, etc etc.


If someone falls over it, you may end up having to prove you made reasonable efforts to avoid this.>

I do wonder how it will work in terrraced streets, will he have cables from every bedroom window, looped to where ever a free space was that evening ? Cars may benefit from a cable pole like the thigs at the car showroom that you drive onto to give a little flagpole.


I suspect that as this sort of thing proliferates, there may be more bylaws enacted specifically for cables. Equally there are already some poorly sited charge points that require a lead to be routed over a footpath as it is, and even a few comic ones that are nearly  unusable
some good and bad examples in this report

Yes Mike, a cable pole seems like a good idea. It could be like a hangman's gallows of old like we used to draw as children. A vertical pole with a cross bar at the top about 4 metres high. (More like an "L" shaped thing).The cross bar could be hinged and spring loaded to avoid damage if something accidentally hits it. The pole could be positioned  at the fence line in the front garden at the front of terraced houses and the cross bar could protrude outwards towards the road. That way the cable could fall vertically downwards above the E.V.s charging socket. I suppose users might need council approval as it would run over the pavement at high level. But it would remove the tripping hazard.


Z.

I wonder if anyone has avoided this issue by getting a supply from a lamppost.  Not that I'm advocating this sort of thing of course, but they aren't exactly high security devices!

?

Of course there are more cars than lamp-posts, so this can only be a part solution if practically every car is to become electric - they may need to be spaced more like parking meters.

I wonder if the lamp post supplies are PME ? and how the earthing is orgnised.

I can't help feeling that with all these cables hanging around the streets connected to cars they will present a easy target to the vandal or "merry maker" looking for entertainment.

I can envisage neighbour disputes where the sparks will fly and fire and electrocution hazards too.