Wirral’s on-street electronic vehicle charger trial has been met with praise in New Brighton, despite concerns it will give a financial break to those who need it least.

E-Car owners can use any of the 45 chargers installed throughout the borough for free until October 2022, in a council-led effort partially funded by the government to encourage greener modes of transport.

Ian, an E-Car owner and New Brighton resident - where there are around 10 of the chargers installed - said: "If I was using [the E-Car chargers] every day I could save myself around four or five hundred pounds. They're fabulous."

Matthew, a local bus-driver, agreed, calling the chargers "a fantastic innovation".

E-Car owners can use any of the 45 chargers installed throughout the Wirral for free until October 2022

E-Car owners can use any of the 45 chargers installed throughout the Wirral for free until October 2022

He said: "It goes some of the way to eradicating what could be a growing problem with more people having more electric vehicles and there being less availability in terms of driveway parking and being able to charge outside your own house."

However, some residents are concerned that the 12 months’ free electricity will be giving a financial incentive to those who may not need it.

According to Nimblefins.co.uk, an E-Car costs an average of £44,000. That same website puts the average cost of a petrol-fuelled car at £15,000. Currently, the cheapest electric car is the Renault Twizy, a single seat buggy-like vehicle that costs just shy of £12,000.

This means that access to an E-Car is difficult or impossible to those on a smaller salary, favouring those who are more affluent.

April, a local resident who does not own an E-Car, lamented that the free electricity gives E-Car owners "an advantage" over owners of petrol-fuelled cars, and said that E-Cars are still out of the price bracket for a majority of people.

Some residents are concerned that the 12 months’ free electricity will be giving a financial incentive to those who may not need it

Some residents are concerned that the 12 months’ free electricity will be giving a financial incentive to those who may not need it

Nicki, another New Brighton local, called the council’s decision "really good" and praised the initiative for encouraging people to get electric cars, though she thought that the cost of E-Cars "should actually be subsidised if [the council] want to encourage sustainable car use".

Responding to this concern, Councillor Liz Grey, Chair of the Environment, Climate Emergency and transport Committee responsible for the new chargers, said that the issue is part of a much wider social injustice; one that the council cannot solve without greater funding.

However, given that the council’s funding from the government has suffered a net loss of £222 Million since 2010, this has proven tricky, and the council must work with what little funding they are allotted.

She said: "The new E-Car charger initiative is not socially just, so it doesn’t really have our endorsement in terms of it being something we would want to do. But we are very dependent on our outside funding to do anything, and we desperately need to clean our air."

By providing the infrastructure for E-Cars, she said, those with higher incomes will be able to contribute to a greener Wirral by opting for clean air or hybrid cars, and this will benefit everybody.

More information on the new E-Car chargers can be found on the Wirral Council’s website wirral.gov.uk/parking-roads-and-travel/major-projects/street-electric-vehicle-charging