Six new electric vehicle chargers have been installed at Henderson Hall in Talybont-on-Usk and were celebrated with a special event on Friday, March 27.

Located in the hall’s car park, the chargers are 7kw and available for people to plug in while they take a hike, bike ride or visit the village pubs and cafe. Charging is available at 60p pkw.

The Henderson Hall committee held a ‘thank you’ event for the local community and sponsors the electric vehicle charger project: Talybont Energy, Bannau Brycheiniog, and Skyrmes Electrical Solutions, who installed the chargers. The committee put on a spread of food and refreshments for everyone and showcased the brand new chargers.

Ruth Holgate of the committee said: “We’ve now replaced the old charger with six brand new chargers and we owe an enormous thank you to so many people for getting this project off the ground. Firstly thank you to Talybont energy and Bannau Brycheiniog for the funding from the Sustainable Development Fund. Thank you so much for supporting us with this project, it’s meant everything - and also to Skyrme’s who have helped enormously by installing the chargers.

“They are 7kw chargers, which are slow chargers and a couple of people have asked why we haven’t gone for fast chargers but we would be looking at £50,000 or more for a row of fast chargers and more electrical work. The aim is that we can encourage people to come to Talybont, enjoy the countryside and enjoy the village and be able to charge their vehicle by the time they come back.”

Ruth added: “We don’t usually allow overnight parking but for those who provide accommodation in the village, we will allow it for visitors to plug their car in overnight, if they are happy to leave their cars overnight then they can stay to allow them to do a long journey the following day. Our gates are never locked either, mainly in case emergency vehicles need to get in, so visitors will never be locked in.

“The chargers have been working for around six months now but we had some glitches so didn’t formally announce it. In October we had 21 charges and in November we had 26 charges. You will add about seven percent of charge each hour using our chargers, which may not sound a lot but if people come to the village for a couple of hours and just want to top their battery up, that’s when it will really come in handy. Or a top up to save you in case of a diversion on your trip or a spontaneous journey elsewhere, this will give you enough. We hope this will prove to be useful in bringing people to Talybont.”

Overnight charging is available for those staying in the village with payments being made using contactless or via the Monta App. Users are required to bring their own cable to use the chargers. The charger types are Rolec / Monta, and every charge helps maintain the village hall facilities.