The London Borough of Richmond is helping residents who don’t have driveways to go electric with a new scheme for pavement EV charging channels.

Launched following a successful trial, the new scheme is run in partnership with Kerbo Charge, an innovator in EV charging cable channels, and means drivers can now safely charge their electric vehicles right outside their front door instead of being reliant on public charge points. Residents could also save £1,100 a year compared to public charging.

Some 40% of UK households lack access to off-street parking, such as a driveway, but this rises to 60% for Richmond residents.

The new scheme opens up home charging solutions for such residents and means charging an EV is now easier, safer, and dramatically cheaper.

When a resident wants to charge their car, they insert their charging cable into the channel, and the specially designed lid closes behind it like a zip, eliminating potentially hazardous cables stretching across footpaths.

Kerbo Charge founders Michael Goulden and Ben Whitaker pitched the product to the BBC’s Dragons’ Den in 2024 and received £50,000 investment from Deborah Meaden. Since then, the technology has been adopted by 30 local authorities but most of these have been outside of London.

Kerbo Charge is designed and manufactured in the UK and, unlike other systems, it flexes to fit the natural shape of London’s uneven pavements. This results in fast, discreet installations with minimum impact on the aesthetic of the street.

Michael Goulden, CEO and co-founder of Kerbo Charge, said: “Congratulations to Richmond Council – this is all about removing barriers to EV adoption and tackling the ‘pavement tax’ – the additional cost of owning an EV if you have on-street parking – which is 60% of Londoners!”

The cost of the installation is £1,350 but residents and residents may qualify for a government grant of up to £350 to help them buy and install an EV charge point at their home.

The price of future installations may also drop if the borough receives a grant from a new £25m government fund announced in July 2025, which is being set up to help councils with the cost of installing footway channels.

This scheme is a key part of Richmond Council’s Air Quality Action Plan, aimed at cutting carbon emissions and improving air quality across the borough.

In addition to the new gully charging scheme, the council installed 210 new lamp column charge points in 2024, bringing the borough’s total to 1,152 and significantly expanding access to convenient EV charging.

More details of the scheme are here.