New pods to charge up e-bikes planned for Norfolk Broads

Sailing at Horning on the Norfolk Broads (Image: Mike Page)

The innovative pods would be installed on established cycle routes, with the aim to boost tourism and encourage visitors to head to local businesses.

PowerPODS will be installed on key routes on the Broads (Image: Intelligen Energy)

Known as PowerPODS, they are made of recycled plastic and generate energy from solar panels on the roof.

If the pods get planning permission, people would be able to charge e-bikes, e-cargo bikes and all terrain mobility scooters with them.

Supported by the Broads Authority, they would be constructed by Northumberland-based Intelligen International.

A Broads Authority spokeswoman said: "PowerPOD is a proposed project in the Broads to improve facilities for charging electric bicycles and mobility scooters. The project will be announced if the planning application is successful."

People would be able to charge e-bikes in the pods (Image: Newsquest)

The PowerPODS are one of three Norfolk schemes awarded almost £150,000 each through the government's rural transport accelerator programme.

READ MORE: Broads villagers feel 'abandoned' as flooding fears mount

Norfolk County Council backed two of the businesses awarded cash, Norwich-based Mobilityways and Cambridge-based Alchera Technologies.

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn (Image: Mike Page)

-The Mobilityways project is running a trial at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn, using roadside cameras and a mobile phone app to analyse when staff share cars to get to work.

-The IVORA (Increasing Vehicle Occupancy in Rural Areas) project aims to encourage more staff to share trips.

-The Alchera Technologies scheme is using data to better understand the travel behaviour of people living in rural parts of the county.

Graham Plant, Norfolk County Council cabinet member for highways, transport and infrastructure (Image: Norfolk County Council)

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Graham Plant, County Hall's cabinet member for highways, infrastructure and transport, said: "This project will help us better understand the movements of people living in rural areas, which will allow us to plan strategic transport decisions, for example the locations of transport hubs, and targeted programmes to help increase take up of public transport.”

The programme is under way and the findings due to be shared with the council early next year.