Chiltern Railways has installed electric vehicle (EV) charge points at nine major stations in a bid to support commuters’ low-emission travel to their local station.

The charge points were installed by POD Point Ltd, a British-based company that provides ‘smart’ networked charge points, at Banbury, Bicester North, Haddenham & Thame Parkway, High Wycombe, Beaconsfield, Gerrards Cross, Aylesbury, Aylesbury Vale Parkway and Stoke Mandeville.

The charge points will provide free electricity to EV drivers who park their cars in allocated bays the station car parks.

Chad Collins, General Manager South said:  “Charging your car at the station makes travelling with an electric car easier and helps us to support our customers to reduce carbon emissions.  Each EV charging bay is able to power up two cars.  They will be accessed on a first-come first-served basis, and we will monitor their usage carefully.”

A live, online availability map is available on the POD Point website at: www.pod-point.com/home/live-availability.

Erik Fairbairn, CEO of POD Point, commented: “Currently most EV drivers use their car for routine, carefully planned journeys, such as the commute to work – and it makes sense that the first wave of charge points are installed in strategic locations such as station car parks.  However the next few years will see a flurry of new EVs on the roads, and EV charging bays will be become a well-recognised part of the urban landscape in the future.”

The charge points were funded by a consortium coordinated by Milton Keynes Council, and will be part of a nationwide network of charge points supported by the Government’s Plugged in Places scheme, which is supporting the roll-out of infrastructure for EV owners.  Milton Keynes was in the first ‘wave’ of regions to be part of the Plugged in Places scheme.