{"id":514759,"date":"2025-10-20T16:00:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T16:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/514759\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T16:00:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T16:00:22","slug":"is-manchester-ready-for-its-170000-cars-to-go-electric","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/514759\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Manchester ready for its 170,000 cars to go electric?"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Are we going to talk about people being unable to drive their cars because they cannot charge them?\u201dThe public charger on Oswald Road used to be free but now costs – it’s one way those with an electric car but no driveway can charge at near home. But is Manchester ready for 170,000 cars to switch?(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

There are 170,000 cars in Manchester for 551,000 people. And one day soon, the vast majority will be electric.<\/p>\n

Last year, a fifth of all new cars sold were all-electric. On average, electric models are still more expensive than petrol or diesel cars \u2014 but some EVs are now cheaper than fossil fuel counterparts.<\/p>\n

The electric revolution promises quieter streets and cleaner air. But it also presents problems.<\/p>\n

Join the Manchester Evening News <\/strong>WhatsApp<\/strong> group <\/strong>HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

EVs are usually much heavier than traditional combustion engine cars, making them more dangerous if they hit a pedestrian or cyclist.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re so heavy they can break kerbstones down faster, due to the weight of the batteries pressing down for extended periods of time when parked.<\/p>\n

But the big issue Manchester town hall is now grappling with is how residents will be able to charge thousands of battery-powered cars.<\/p>\n

While some have driveways where they can install a home-charger, \u2018very few\u2019 Mancunian homes have off-street parking.<\/p>\n

In London, this is sometimes solved by installing chargers inside lamp-posts. But that\u2019s not considered viable in Manchester as only 3pc of the city\u2019s lamp-posts sit on the \u2018kerb\u2019 side of the road to house EV chargers.<\/p>\n

Nicolas Road is leafy and near a primary school, shops, and a park(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

It means owners need to charge their car at a public charger nearby, or drape a cable across the pavement.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a problem on Nicolas Road in Chorlton<\/a>, according to local councillor Tina Kirwin-McGinley.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are hanging leads over trees,\u201d she told a council environment scrutiny meeting last week (October 7). \u201cThe lead is not on the pavement so it\u2019s not a trip hazard but I am sure it cannot be very safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leafy and lined with classic redbrick terraces and semis, Nicolas Road\u2019s proximity to well-rated Oswald Road Primary School and parks means it\u2019s easy to see why well-off Mancs want to raise a family here.<\/p>\n

Semis regularly sell for more than half-a-million pounds, and plenty of its inhabitants work in professional fields.<\/p>\n

Many EV owners here joined the electric revolution with a company car. Mum Lauren Beebe is one.<\/p>\n

Mum and national sales manager Lauren Beebe has a hybrid company car – but wouldn’t go fully electric at the moment(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

She seems to like her hybrid Mercedes, but hasn\u2019t forked out the \u00a3800 for a home charger, because she hasn\u2019t got a driveway.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil I know how much charge I need versus how much it is for petrol, I will not shell out for an \u00a3800 charger at home,\u201d explained Lauren, a national sales manager for a paint company.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cover the whole UK, so if I go fully electric to get a free charger [at home], I would still mean I am out on the road charging.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s worried being fully-electric will mean taking meetings from service stations while she re-charges, which she says take too long at the moment. And when you have to regularly drive to-and-from Dorset for work, like Lauren does, that\u2019s \u2018a barrier to going fully electric\u2019.<\/p>\n

Sarah Phillips, a 39-year-old actuary, has had an electric car for years. Before she moved to her home with a driveway and home charger, she had to drag a cable over the pavement for her hybrid.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t ideal, but you could get a cover over it,\u201d she explained. Another option was going to the then-free-to-use public charger on Oswald Road, a two-minute walk away.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was great,\u201d she added, but admitted since it now costs to charge, her family wouldn\u2019t have gone electric unless they could charge on a driveway at home.<\/p>\n

Some have joined the electric revolution here, but not all(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

She\u2019s happy they waited: \u201cIt\u2019s great. I\u2019ve had no issues. It works really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Husband-and-wife Steve and Jenny Lee have an all-electric Hyundai through his work in the chemical industry. He has to work in the office five days a week, giving him an ideal opportunity to charge the car.<\/p>\n

That explains why the duo didn\u2019t fork out the \u00a31,000-plus were quoted for a home charger.<\/p>\n

But despite the relative plain sailing, Jenny said she wouldn\u2019t make the switch.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I was buying a new car now, I would not buy electric,\u201d she explained. \u201cWe went to London [last weekend] and got to a services and all the chargers were full.<\/p>\n

\u201cCharging availability has got better, but the ones at the services are expensive.<\/p>\n

\u201cFactoring in more time [for journeys] means you have to take a break. That\u2019s a positive, but not if you\u2019re commuting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lauren, Sarah, Jenny, and Steve are at the forefront of the electric revolution, solving charging problems as they come up. But councillors are \u2018really concerned\u2019 about how authorities will solve those issues on a city-wide scale.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think we need a proper systemic way of meeting all of these safety things,\u201d said Coun Mandie Shilton-Godwin.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe question of enabling people to walk on the pavement is so important. [We have] 170,000 cars and very few people have their own off-street parking.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinding off street charging is really challenging. Are we going to talk about people being unable to drive their cars because they cannot charge them?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“Are we going to talk about people being unable to drive their cars because they cannot charge them?\u201dThe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,8832,393,4884,2465,8828,1230,285,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-514759","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-chorlton","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-manchester-council","14":"tag-motoring","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115407331607313777","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}