Electric Cars: Why Jersey is still far below capacity for public chargers needed by 2030.

Let's look at a calculation: For 50,000 cars of which at least 25,000 are on street parking with permits, how many public electric charging points would be needed, and how is this calculated?

Calculation:

Here’s a back‐of‐the‐envelope way to size a public on‐street network for 50,000 cars—25,000 of which park on the street and can’t charge at home:

Determine how many cars need public charging – If the entire 50,000-car fleet goes electric, then up to 25,000 vehicles will rely primarily on on-street charge points.

1. Estimate charging “sessions” per day – Assume the average on-street EV tops up once every two days ⇒ 0.5 sessions/vehicle/day ⇒ Total sessions/day = 25 000 × 0.5 = 12 500
2. Pick a charger type and its daily throughput – Slow (AC) 7 kW charger: ~8 h per session ⇒ 3 sessions per port per 24 h – Fast (AC) 22 kW charger: ~4 h per session ⇒ 6 sessions per port per 24 h – Rapid (DC) 50 kW+: ~1 h per session ⇒ 20+ sessions per port per 24 h
3. Compute required ports = (sessions/day) ÷ (sessions per port/day) – Slow 7 kW: 12 500 ÷ 3 ≃ 4 200 ports – Fast 22 kW: 12 500 ÷ 6 ≃ 2 100 ports – Rapid 50 kW: 12 500 ÷ 20 ≃ 625 ports
4. Convert ports to physical charge units – Most curbside units carry 2 ports each ⇒ divide ports by 2 – e.g. for fast chargers: 2 100 ports ÷ 2 ≃ 1 050 dual‐socket units

Real-world planners typically aim for 1 port per 10–20 on-street EVs (to allow growth and peak-hour buffering). With 25,000 on-street EVs that implies:

– Ratio 1:10 ⇒ 2,500 ports (≈1,250 two-socket units) – Ratio 1:15 ⇒ 1,667 ports (≈ 834 two-socket units) – Ratio 1:20 ⇒ 1,250 ports (≈ 625 two-socket units)

So you’d need on the order of 1,000–2,500 physical chargers (2-socket pedestals), depending on charger speed, turnover assumptions and desired spare capacity.

Existing Charging Network

According to the States of Jersey, there are over 100 public EV charging points island-wide on the Evolve network.

In publicly managed car parks alone, you’ll find 35 charge points across ten locations (e.g. Sand Street 4, Pier Road 8, Goose on the Green 11) as part of that total

Current EV take-up

According to the States of Jersey Open Data portal, at mid-2024 there were: • Total vehicles registered in Jersey: 114,400 • Total battery-electric vehicles (BEVs): 4,890

That means BEVs make up 4.3 % of all registered vehicles on the island

Five Years to Go!

Current policy sees a restriction on imports of any petrol cars into Jersey in 2030, which is five years away. The expansion of the EV charging points would have to be massively accelerated to make the necessary chargers up to the minimum requirement of 1,000 assuming just 25,000 cars in on street parking.

The policy just hasn't been thought threw at all. As usual, one matter has been considered without considering the necessary and sufficient other part to be completed. I am not surprised. Joined up thinking is not something we see much of with government policy.