London aims for 50,000 new charging points by 2025

London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan has presented a plan for a comprehensive expansion of the city’s charging infrastructure, estimating the need for charging points up to 2025.

The current plan to expand the London charging network to over 300 fast charging points and more than 3,500 regular charging points by the end of 2020 is considered sufficient. By 2025, however, demand is estimated at 2,300 to 4,100 fast points and 33,700 to 47,500 slower charging points. London bases the calculation on 330,000 electric vehicles expected to come to town by then.

In the meeting of the newly launched EV Infrastructure Taskforce organisationally based at Transport for London (TfL), Mayor Khan discussed and decided on various measures with representatives from business, energy, infrastructure, government and the London boroughs. The critical point: the city must provide the infrastructure for electric cars to cope with the consequences of bad air and climate change, according to a statement by the mayor.

Among other things, the next generation of fast charging stations will be installed at London petrol stations in the coming years, clearly in cooperation with BP Chargemaster. Five “flagship charging stations”, i.e. a kind of fast-charging park, are also planned. The first of these hubs operated by ChargePoint will open at the end of the year in the heart of the Square Mile (the banking district). In terms of logistics, DPD says it will open eight all-electric micro depots in London.

More commitment from the private sector also comes from fleet operators such as chauffeur services. Addison Lee aims to have a zero-emissions capable fleet by 2022, while Uber aims for all cars using its app in London to be electric in 2025. Also, rental services DriveNow’s objective for 50 per cent of their fleet to be electric by 2025 with Zipcar aiming for 100 per cent of their fleet to be electric by 2025.

In terms of public charging points in each borough, citizens should be able to request new charging infrastructure from their local authorities in areas of high demand. Online tools are to ensure that London’s energy grid can keep pace with demand while enabling private sector investment.

At the moment, according to the city council, a quarter of all charging stations in the UK are located in the capital. If the measures adopted take effect, it is estimated that the number of electric cars could indeed increase from around 20,000 today to over 330,000 by 2025 in London.

Additional reporting by Nora Manthey, London.

london.gov.uk, tfl.gov.uk (PDF)