Back in 2013, when Your Parking Space began helping home owners generate a little extra income by renting out the front of their property to other drivers, they probably didn't envision the concept evolving into a nationwide network of charging points for electric vehicles. The latest research shows that up to 10% of the UK's available charge points could be attached to the front of someone else's house. WhichEV examines the benefits of this trend.
It's possible to get a UK home tariff of around 14 pence per kWh. Central London charging points can be as much as 30p/kWh. That disparity means that it's possible to have an EV charger installed on your property and rent the space to an EV user – for a higher price than ‘space alone' because you are offering a refill.
Right now, the UK has almost 4,000 private parking spaces for hire at 1,200 different locations, where you can pay a bit more more and get a charge on your EV at the same time. Online resource Zap-Map shows that there are almost 11,000 charging locations, which would mean that ~10% of the locations are private.
You can imagine local and national government offices encouraging landlords to help build this kind of secondary network, to keep the UK moving as EV sales ramp up over the next decade.
The MD of Your Parking Space is Harrison Woods and he told media, “We’ve seen a rapid increase in homeowners with electric vehicle charge points registering their driveways to rent, as they recognise the money-making opportunities they provide. As a result, we expect to double the number of private locations with chargers to 2,500 by the end of 2020“.
Not only is it profitable for the home owner, it can be better value for the driver, with everything driven by a simple set of apps.
“It’s an attractive option for electric vehicle drivers to park their cars in pre-booked driveways as they are conveniently located and often cheaper than traditional car parks, while topping up on juice ready for their next journey”, said Woods.
The Woods business model is in line to generate millions of pounds worth of bookings each year for its traditional ‘parking space only' clients, but those with chargers are expected to pick up at least 12% more in fees from offering juice at the same time.
If you're planning to buy an electric car, then this could be a near way of off-setting the cost of the charger installation. If you have a pair of parking spaces in front of your house and you live anywhere near a station in London, then this has to be worth a consideration as a very low impact way to reduce your mortgage. YourParkingSpace claims that their landlords earn an average of more than £1,000 a year.
You can get more details directly from YourParkingSpace – who also plant a new tree every time they take a booking. If you decide to help expand the UK's network of chargers in this way, make sure you contact your DNO ahead of any installation work.