Did you know that reports of problems with EV charging points can be accepted via FixMyStreet Pro? Councils, highways authorities and other public bodies using the solution can include EV charging points among the categories available for reports via individual instances of the service.
As a reporting service for street, highway and environment faults, FixMyStreet Pro is capable of accepting reports for a variety of different issues, acting as a single front door to fault reporting for any public realm issue.
With the rise in the use of electric vehicles, reports from members of the public about EV charging points on public roads have also increased, leading to several of our FixMyStreet Pro clients asking if such reports could be fielded through the service alongside reports of, for example, potholes, blocked drains and broken street lights.
EV charging categories on FixMyStreet Pro
As with any functionally on FixMyStreet Pro, the way EV charging point reports are incorporated into the service can be done in a number of different ways depending on the needs of the individual authority.
For example, Northumberland County Council accepts reports related to EV charging and organises them by the following subcategories: Damaged; Malfunction; On-street charging application; Payment issue; and Other.
Reports made within these categories are triaged to the appropriate area within the council’s integrated backend system where they are picked up by the relevant team.
Meanwhile, Surrey County Council collects all EV charging related reports through one main category, and then makes use of FixMyStreet Pro’s extra questions functionality to triage the report.
Upon selecting a category, extra information, including images, can be displayed to support accurate reporting and manage expectations around how reports will be responded to.
For example, Shropshire Council uses this feature to explain which EV charging points can and can’t be reported via its FixMyStreet Pro, helping to differentiate between public and private charging points.
Displaying EV charging assets on the FixMyStreet Pro map
Where asset data is available, FixMyStreet Pro can display individual EV charging points on the map via an asset layer shared from an integrated asset management system.
Surrey County Council’s FixMyStreet Pro service enables users to select the exact EV charging point about which they want to make a report. This helps to improve the accuracy of reports, reducing the administrative burden for staff and the carbon impact of having frontline crews drive around trying to find the correct charging point.
Making use of asset layers also helps to divert reports about charging points that are not the responsibility of the council or authority using FixMyStreet Pro.
Diverting EV charging reports via FixMyStreet Pro
For authorities that don’t handle reports relating to EV charging, or are not yet ready for a digital process for these reports, but still want to help signpost people to the help they need, it’s possible to divert reports using FixMyStreet Pro.
Here again, this can be done in several ways. Reports in the EV charging category can be diverted automatically to another body where appropriate (just like how we divert reports of abandoned hire bikes and e-scooters in London to the responsible operator).
Alternatively, messages can be displayed to users to provide information on and signpost to alternative reporting methods. For example, upon trying to report a public EV charging point to Gloucestershire County Council using its FixMyStreet Pro, users are signposted to a phone number the council would like to be used for such reports.
Taking applications for EV charging points via FixMyStreet Pro
In addition to taking reports of problems with EV charging points via FixMyStreet Pro, councils and other authorities can also make use of the technology to collect applications for EV charging points to be installed.
Northumberland’s ‘On-site EV charging application’ category enables users to select an address from the map and apply for the installation of an EV charging point.
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For more information about taking reports relating to EV charging via FixMyStreet Pro, or about any of the solution’s other features, please get in touch.
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Image: Reinhard Bruckner via Pexels