JOURNAL readers have given mixed reactions to the news that the first electric vehicle charging park of its kind in Wales, and the second-largest in the UK, is taking shape at Rhyl’s West Kinmel Street Car Park.

The underground works at the site, and the main brick built substation which provides the electrical supply to the chargers, are almost finished.

The hub area will now have its charger units installed, and the site resurfaced complete with new signage and car bay markings on the ground.

It will be able to accommodate and charge up to 36 vehicles simultaneously, with all chargers at the hub open for public use.

Work on the site is expected to be completed by the end of October, with the charge park going live towards the end of November.

The hub will be a mix of “fast” 7kWh chargers for users who have no access to off-street parking and “rapid” 50kW chargers for a quick top-up, and also to assist taxi drivers on the uptake of electric vehicles by minimising disruption to operational work time.

Keith Powell wrote: “Despite all the negative posts, it’s great news for visitors to the town like myself, who can now charge close to my usual accommodation, and makes a visit easier and more attractive.

“Let’s just hope it’s not completely taken up by taxi drivers and delivery van drivers, as that will become self-defeating.

“Appropriate sharing of the facility will be nice. Visitors to the area don’t want to undertake a 100+ mile journey, only to find all the chargers occupied by taxis in the daytime or delivery vans charging up overnight.

Rachel McManus added: “If you have an electric car and know that there are numerous chargers available, people might stop, charge their car and have a walk around town.

“It might be a small number at the moment, but that number is growing.

“It beats people thinking: ‘There are no charging points available in Rhyl; we will bypass there and go somewhere else’.”

Mandy Smith said: “This is good for Rhyl; it will definitely bring people in, which is surely a good thing?”

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Though, not all were in favour of the move, which follows the successful installation of chargers at Kings Avenue car park at Prestatyn.

Keith Williams wrote: “Rhyl is in dire need of more social facilities and shopping. Car parks created for a select form of transport is not good value for money to the local residents.”

Luke Packer added: “Appropriate sharing would be nice.

“Given that there will be an abundance of slow chargers, there it would be lovely if the visitors parking up all day would use them, leaving the 50kWh chargers to those like taxis and delivery drivers to get a quick top-up and move on.

“Delivery and taxi drivers are some of the lowest income jobs there are, but are some of the most polluting given the mileage they do.

“So, surely it’s better to provide a facility where exactly those people can charge up? If they live in apartments or terraced houses, how are they to charge?”

Meanwhile, Richard Touhladjiev called the project “just another Denbighshire County Council (DCC) waste of our funds that could have gone to something much better”.

Simon Williams agreed, labelling it: “another blatant waste of money by DCC and the town council.”

“Locally, the ownership of electric vehicles is minimal, the purchase price being unaffordable to most locals. Lunacy yet again.”

A total of three of the parking bays and charging units will be specifically allocated for disabled users.

The charging units will also offer a range of bilingual payment options including, contactless card, app-driven and RFID card.

Daytime and peak time users will still pay for a parking space at the hub, but the electric vehicle bays will have no parking charges levied between 5pm and 8am as per the rest of the car park.