No off-street parking. Street parking only. A flat with no charge points. Can you still own an EV? The honest answer is: often yes but it requires a clear-eyed look at what solutions actually exist for your specific situation.
Shared car park with EV bays
If your building or estate has a shared car park with working EV charge points, ownership is straightforward though you depend on bay availability and charger reliability.
Research how many bays exist relative to current EV owning residents, and how reliably the chargers have performed. Ask the building management directly.
Shared car park without EV charging
Funding and support schemes exist for building owners and management companies to install EV charging. The situation is improving but it varies significantly by building and council area.
If this is your situation, lobby your management company and research local council schemes before assuming it is impossible.
Street parking only
Solutions in some areas include lamp post chargers (installed by several UK councils on residential streets), pavement cable channels (physical conduits from house to kerbside), and kerb-side charge posts.
Coverage is patchy and varies enormously by local authority. Contact your council directly and check their EV infrastructure plans before concluding that no solution exists.
Some EV drivers in this situation rely primarily on workplace charging and nearby public charge points. It is manageable for many but requires honest research into local availability, not optimistic assumptions.
Flat or apartment
New developments increasingly include EV charging. Older buildings vary widely. Under current legislation, landlords and freeholders cannot unreasonably refuse permission for EV charger installation but the process must be followed correctly.
Check what exists in your building and what the management company's position is before purchasing an EV. For current guidance on rights for renters and leaseholders, visit gov.uk.
When the honest answer is not yet
If no viable charging solution exists for your specific situation right now, that is a legitimate outcome of this research not a failure. The infrastructure is improving rapidly.
Revisit in six to twelve months. The picture may look very different.
