How to improve electricity capacity will be a key part of increasing the amount of charging points for vehicles in Ceredigion.

Discussions were held this week about the strategy and action plan for installing electric vehicle charging points across the county with Welsh Government funding available.

Members of Ceredigion County Council’s thriving communities overview and scrutiny committee heard that there was up to £420,000 available to install the points in public car parks and council depots.

This is to support the authority’s “commitment to reducing carbon emissions from the transportation and travel sector.”

At the meeting on July 27 Cllr John Roberts said the council could put in many points but the electricity was needed to run them, referring to a situation with a solar farm that “cannot feed into our grid system because it would collapse.”

He said there were also petrol stations that had requested charging points but were refused on the grounds it would impact the supply to surrounding homes.

Whether electric vehicles or hydrogen technology was the future was also questioned by the committee, but the need to look at all ways of increasing decarbonisation was highlighted.

Highways corporate manager Phil Jones acknowledged the grid capacity issue, adding the strategy is a “small part of a larger picture.”

The strategy states: “There will need to be around 16,000 chargers in Ceredigion in 2025 and around 49,000 in 2030 (inclusive of domestic charging).”

It adds that in 2021 there were 300 registered ultra-low emission vehicles registered in Ceredigion – 174 battery electric vehicles, 118 plug-in hybrids and the reminder unknown.

Cllr Elizbeth Evans said the figures could be much higher, with garages often registering such vehicles centrally.

A report to committee states that there are EV charging points at Canolfan Rheidol and Penmorfa offices and provision in the county has been expanding with a mix of public, private and third sector provision.

The first phase of installation includes a number of council leisure centres and car parks, with more parking areas included in the second phase of the action plan.