Pedestal for houses with no driveway

zg3409

Taken from Facebook

Thought some people might benefit from this post. I don’t have a private driveway. My house is terrace in a housing estate.

Before I bought the Ev car I enquired with the local county council about running a ev charger out to the footpath. I was given an immediate yes.

The conditions where, I had to get a company who would do the grounds work and apply for an open roads license.

However I saw some builders installing a driveway for a council house near by and asked them about it. They so happened to do contract work for the council and they even knew the local council engineer by name and the local council engineer allowed them to carry out the work without the need of an official open roads license for the job(which costs extra money).

EPower provided the charger and installation, which came with a Safety certificate for peace of mind.

A local welder made the pedestal for me which cost me €150.

I’m using the eo mini which I have to say has been fantastic, easy to use, up to 7.7kw speed and supper tiny and the app has a great UI.

If you have any questions about the EV charger installation grant PM me 😉

Hope this helps anyone looking to do the same.

Old Jim

Tidy installation.

Does a pedestal mounted unit require an isolation switch?

zg3409

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119766308#Comment_119766308

Same question was asked on Facebook. I have seen public ones with isolators and ones without. I am not sure rules are 100% clear and it might cause more issues than it solves. There is an isolator in the garden in this case. It was cork county council a few years ago.

Fingleberries

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119766308#Comment_119766308

My understanding is that, yes, an isolation switch is still required.

Fathead

looks great did you have to go under the footpath with the cable

TitianGerm

Imagine you forgot to turn off the fuse inside and the locals were helping themselves to your electricity 😂

zg3409

Based. On the Facebook comments they dug up the pathway but in some cases it may be possible to run cable under the path instead.

iamconsultant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058268109/pedestal-for-houses-with-no-driveway

Can u help on how did u secure the approval which county council was it any contacts..??

zg3409

This was on Facebook, person is not on this group. It was a specific council area, Cork I think. Some comments suggested person may have gotten lucky and if the another person applied it would probably have been refused.

Except for this case I don't know if any council approved pedestal on council land or crossing council footpath in Republic of Ireland. A good few have received approval in apartments or gated communities with management companies but it's typically a battle.

Maybe put up a photo of your parking layout, if you have an assigned space and if footpath is own by council or someone else, and which council area only then can we give relevant advice.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058268109/pedestal-for-houses-with-no-driveway

We really shouldn’t be taking footpath space to accommodate private property like this. Stick the pedestal on the road, at the kerb if absolutely necessary.

liamog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120781448#Comment_120781448

We regularly use the public realm to facilitate the activities of private individuals, we also regularly use the margins of pavements to facilitate infrastructure such as signage and poles. So long as design standards are followed which result in sensibly sized pavements designed to enable use by vulnerable road users such as wheelchair users and buggies are followed it shouldn't be a problem.

I wouldn't see this style becoming common on narrow streets such as below, where islanding onto the roadway would be a much better option.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3494498,-6.2753478,3a,75y,25.08h,71.35t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1syb-Oub0vCZws2My1EdXffA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

munchkin_utd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120781861#Comment_120781861

the one thing though, if the resident wants to charge from the kerb at their house wouldnt they also then need to be able to reserve the spot outside their house?

If you multiply that by all kerbs in a city, where only the person in the house can park there, then the space is empty whilst they are at work or on holiday but cannot be used by anyone else.

...Ghost...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120781448#Comment_120781448

I am of the opinion that such infrastructure is placed at the edge of a footpath (including signage and railings) because it is much less likely to be damaged by motorists attempting to park. If the pathway is wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair user with the infrastructure on the path, then I see no problem with it. I would personally prefer retractable poles for private users which would be flush with the ground when not in use, but that would cost quite a bit more.

Ronney

That looks a great job but I would be very cautious about running private power supplies through a public area. Am very surprised a council allowed this.

The best solution I think is to roll out chargers on lampposts like this below.

A private company could be given the license and allowed to charge to speed up the install and zero the council cost

https://ubitricity.com/en/charging-solutions/ac-lamppost/

liamog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120781917#Comment_120781917

In practice this is much less of an issue than most people think it is. In estates with "shared" parking people usually come to arrangements regarding who's space is whose. It's only in the relatively few truly shared streets where a more communal system from a centralised provider is better. We need to make sure that people without driveways aren't left behind, townhouses are a much better use of limited living space than everyone having driveways, it's just all part of a broader consideration of how we plan our communities.

My own preference would be for neighbourhoods to have underground garages built under the roadway. That way we can keep the streets for people.

zg3409

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120781946#Comment_120781946

There is ubitricity trial in malahide the past few years. https://www.plugshare.com/location/329746

Similar in Dun laoghaire.

Main issues

Normally lighting wiring no good so new power cables needed. ESB networks dont allow non esb networks to run cables between poles which means an esb meter for every pole and associated standing charge. The pole and light are typically changed and a new earth rod is needed. By the time you are finished you may as well put up a pedestal close to light pole.

In terms of council terrace houses with no parking for example the council themselves say they don't want to roll out banks of public AC chargers on every street preferring DC charging at nearby hubs or shopping centres.

From a shared parking perspective public points would be better when no one has a designated space but I can already see the cost to run public AC points on quiet public streets will mean charging fees will be high or they won't be maintained and or go bust.

There is no easy, cheap, perfect solution, and nationwide rollout probably would cost a lot. I can't see it happening any time soon nor blanket approval for one off cases like shown.

irishgeo

I have got a different issue. In order to get a cable to my parking space I need to cross the public footpath. Im not sure who to ask for permission got that as the estate is still under control of the builder not the council.

zg3409

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120784186#Comment_120784186

Council won't give permission nearly definitely and someone may object to a cable with a trip preventer as it's still a trip risk. If you could tunnell under the footpath and do something very discreet it might be the only way to do it or look up.

"charge arm" which swings out above footpath. You could DIY a home made version.

Some people cut a channel in the path to slip a cable into and there are some products specifically for this.

If someone objects you can always stop...

Marcusm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120781448#Comment_120781448

From a positive perspective, a multiplicity of poles like this would stop people parking on the footpath!

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120794919#Comment_120794919

Put them on the road, at the kerb. They'll stop people parking on the footpath, and still leave space for pedestrians, wheelchair users, parents pushing buggies, people helping a relative who uses a walking frame and more. Footpaths are for feet.

...Ghost...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120795237#Comment_120795237

Makes sense. 3 things that annoy me on footpaths are:

Cars.

Dog shìt.

Cyclists (especially when there is a cycle lane right beside them).

liamog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120795237#Comment_120795237

From a road safety point of view you are better off including the charge points at the kerbside and reducing the width of the carriageway. Alternatively building out full islands with trees. Narrow carriageways reduce speed far more effectively than speed bumps and painted signs.

It's pretty easy to demonstrate that footpaths are not just for feet, we use them for any number of other items such as benches and trees. You need to think of the entire width of a street as a system and make it a nice liveable place instead of treating it purely as a racetrack to get people through as quickly as possible.

John_Rambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120781448#Comment_120781448

People in apartments and terraced houses have tiny carbon footprints, anything to help them reduce it further should be encouraged. This pettiness is comparable to banning cyclists from being locked up on non approved bike parking areas.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120799199#Comment_120799199

How would putting chargers on the road instead of the footpath make it harder for people in apartments and terraced houses to reduce their carbon footprint?

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120799183#Comment_120799183

Yes, islands , benches and trees are all good ideas, things that are generally available to everyone. Whereas chargers have a more restricted audience, just motorists, so the roadside is the best place for them.

liamog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120801123#Comment_120801123

There all part of street furniture, reducing pavement width to place them roadside has to be one of the silliest idea's I've ever seen on boards.ie

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120801331#Comment_120801331

I didn't suggest reducing pavement width - quite the opposite.

markpb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120801331#Comment_120801331

I think you’re reading something that hasn’t been said. EV chargers are only for cars so put them on the road in between parking spaces. Putting them on the footpath is unfair to pedestrians who gain no value from them.

There’s an argument that people are crap drivers and will crash into them but a) that’s still no reason to penalise pedestrians and b) as you said, there are engineering solutions to avoid equipment damage.

Which bit of that is contentious?

liamog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120801969#Comment_120801969

One of the simplest mechanisms to protect roadside infrastructure from encroachment is via the use of kerbing. Installing charging posts on a small approx. 20cm jutting out kerb will lead to a need for wider parking spaces to give adequate safe clearance, a much better idea is to provide a continuous kerb between them, we call this pavement. This avoids extra trip hazard due to have a continuous kerb.

An ideological approach of stick them in the road because only vehicle owners is ridiculous compared to a more joined up approach of design the streetscape to suit all users. The streetscape refers to all the space between private land either side of the road. For narrower roads I'd much prefer to see chargers combined with tree planting to create islands between spaces which has the extra benefit of narrowing the street to reduce speed.

In modern developments where we rely on townhouses and terraces with shared parking due to their more efficient land use as mentioned by @John_Rambo. We should be designing the streets in such a way that the addition of charging points is not taking away from suitable pavement widths.

3DataModem

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120784186#Comment_120784186

A neighbour of ours dug a channel in the footpath and buried the cable. Did a flawless job. Got the pedestal to their private space (that is a bit away from their house). They seem to have done it on the "easier to ask forgiveness" basis and nobody has objected, and nor should they as they job seems to be done properly (isolator, etc). Estate not yet taken in charge, so council presumably not bothered, and managing agent probably not bothered either as it doesn't increase their fees.

John_Rambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120801112#Comment_120801112

They want to move from ICEV to EV.