Londoners turn driveways into charging points for electric cars

Hundreds of London homeowners have joined a scheme that could earn an income of up to £1,000 a year from letting their driveways as charging spaces for electric vehicles.

Members can have a free charging point installed at their home, either in their garage or on the wall of their house, and then advertise the space via the parkatmyhouse.com website.

Every time a motorist books to charge their car — a process that takes about five hours — they pay the home owner £3 to £5. The charging point is hooked up to the domestic electricity supply, so each charge costs the home owner about £1.50, leaving them with a profit of £1.50 to £3.50, or up to £1,000 over a year, says the firm running the scheme.

On this basis David Martell, chief executive of Chargemaster PLC, which is running the scheme, calculates that homeowners living in central London areas popular with motorists could use the extra cash to help them offset increasing fuel bills. To earn an income of around £1,000 a year, almost 300 cars would need to be charged on a drive each year.

Anthony Eskinazi, CEO of ParkatmyHouse.com, believes the scheme will help both the environment and homeowners. He said: “Not only will this provide electric vehicle drivers with additional charge points throughout the capital, and help speed up the adoption of electric cars in London, but it will also enable homeowners to generate a new source of income from electric car drivers.”

If setting up a car charging point doesn’t appeal to you, there are other ways to make your home and its contents work for you:
* Declutter and use a gadget-buying company to sell old phones, cameras, laptops and MP3 Players. For the best deal see: mobilevaluer.com.

* Rent out spare loft or garage space as storage via a website like storemates.co.uk which can match-make you with someone in need of extra room.

* Rent your drive or garage to a commuter. You could earn up to £200pcm, with minimal effort. See parkatmyhouse.com for information.

* If your home is unusual you could rent it as a location for film, TV, or magazine shoots. Firms like locationworks.com can advise.

* Minimise holiday costs by swapping your home with another family to get free accommodation in the UK or overseas, with a firm like homeexchange.com

* Alternatively if you are going away think about renting out your property to a holiday maker, via onefinestay.com or airbnb.co.uk.