Safety concerns put city's charging points out of action

All on-street charging points for electric vehicles across a city have been disconnected over safety concerns about how they were connected.

The 98 points, set up across Portsmouth in 2019, use power from lampposts.

Portsmouth City Council said they were taken out of use on Tuesday afternoon after Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) raised safety concerns.

The authority said it was not known how long the charging points would be out of use.

The charging points were installed and are operated across the city by either ubitricity or Joju.

The charge point operators are responsible for liaising with the electricity distribution network operator, SSEN.

The authority said: "Following notification from SSEN of their safety concerns, as a precaution the charging points have been turned off while the situation is investigated."

The council said it had instructed both Joju and ubitricity to work with SSEN to resolve the situation "as soon as possible".

An SSEN Distribution spokesperson said it was "asked to attend a site in Portsmouth where an EV charge point connected to a lamppost had faulted, causing damage to the network".

"We have informed Portsmouth City Council, as the owner of the lamppost assets, of our inspections," they said.

"As the council considers their next steps, we will support them and their contractors as they carry out their investigation."

Residents with electric vehicles will have to use public off-street charging points.

They are located around the city at supermarkets, shopping centre car parks and at the ferry terminal.

While the on-street charge points are out of use any car will be able to park in their designated bays.

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