Sunderland City Council has teamed up with British innovators Kerbo Charge to roll out through-pavement EV charging channels – a game-changing solution for residents who don’t have driveways. Instead of being reliant on public charge points, drivers can now safely charge their electric vehicles right outside their front door.

And here’s the real win: each home charge saves drivers around £20 compared to using public charge points. Over a year, it adds up to an average of £1,100 in savings.

How it works

It’s simple. A discreet charging channel is installed across the pavement from the resident’s home to the road. When it's time to charge, you insert your cable, and the specially-designed lid closes behind like a zip – keeping pavements trip-free and pedestrians happy.

Kerbo Charge is designed and built in the UK and, unlike other systems, it flexes to fit the natural shape of our not-so-flat pavements. That means quicker, cleaner installs with minimal disruption.

Early signs look electric

The council is initially deploying 20 channels at a substantially reduced cost to residents as part of a trial project and will then work to make the product available across the city. One of the first residents is Tony Scott, from Roker, Sunderland, who says: “Without being able to home charge it would not be viable for us to own an EV due to high public charging costs when compared to petrol. The channel allows us to charge our car a couple of times a week and take advantage of cheaper overnight electricity. We would definitely recommend it as a good option if you have no off-street parking and are able to park outside your house.”

Councillor Lindsey Leonard, Portfolio Holder for Environment, Transport and Net Zero at Sunderland City Council said: “Sunderland City Council is leading the way in promoting the use of innovative technologies to assist with charging electric cars. Kerbo-Charge were selected for this work across the city as we support our residents who wish to switch to an electric car in streets where there is no or limited off-street parking available.”

Michael Goulden, CEO of Kerbo Charge, said: “Congratulations to Sunderland City Council for making cross pavement charging available to their residents. Kerbo Charge is about giving people more choice and removing barriers to EV adoption, resulting in cleaner air and cheaper charging.”

If you live in Sunderland and you’d like to find out more about getting a Kerbo Charge cross-pavement channel please email evcharging@sunderland.gov.uk

For more startup news, check out the other articles on the website, and subscribe to the magazine for free. Listen to The Cereal Entrepreneur podcast for more interviews with entrepreneurs and big-hitters in the startup ecosystem.