Char.gy Ltd has been appointed as the new operator of many of the lamppost charging points in Richmond.

It will take over from ubitricity through a phased rollout starting from 8 July the council says.

Richmond Council has over 940 electric vehicle charging points across the borough, including 862 lamppost charging points which are operated by ubitricity.

The technology of these charge points is open access and designed to be transferable between operators.

After a procurement process which took place last year, char.gy was appointed to take over the management and maintenance of 337 ubitricity charge points originally installed in 2019 and 2020. ubitricity will still operate 525 charge points installed over 2023/24.

Richmond Council say the phased transition will begin from 8 July with 179 charging points due to move over to char.gy by 12 July.

Phase two will take place in March 2025 and the final phase will begin in November 2025.

char.gy operatives will attend each of the 179 chargers to replace the payment QR code and signage, and ensure all systems are operational. 

The council say: "The charge points themselves will not change, and there will be no changes to the charging process other than payments now being made to char.gy instead of ubitricity via the new QR code provided.

"Additionally, there will be a new price at these sites, which will be 39p per kWh."

All live sites can be found on ZapMap.