Affluent London borough set to double kerbside charge points
The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames will install 525 new electric vehicle charging points. The new installations will more than double the on-street charging network, bringing the total to 945 (up from 420).
Richmond is among the most affluent and greenest London boroughs, with deer roaming around Richmond Park on any day. Still, not all residents have a garage and require public charging infrastructure.
Like other areas in the capital, Richmond relies on charge points installed directly into street lampposts with technology supplied by Siemens-backed Ubitricity.
The chargers deliver up to 5 kW and take less than two hours to install.
Richmond selected “key residential locations”. Ubitricity will carry out the installation and ongoing management and will start this year. All chargepoints will register on Zap Map.
Cllr Alexander Ehmann, Chair of Richmond Council’s Transport and Air Quality Committee, also pointed towards schemes to help drivers switch to electric. “For those who are wanting to try out an EV, the Zipcar Flex car club operating in the borough offers electric options. And for those who are having to scrap their car to comply with the ULEZ expansion, the Council is offering financial support for you to try car clubs through our Good Move Scheme.”
Starting this September, the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) has been expanded to include all London boroughs. Driving a non-compliant vehicle anywhere in the zone costs 12.50 pounds per day.
Ubitricity, now a Shell subsidiary, claims it was one of the largest CPOs in the UK, with over 7,000 kerbside chargers in lanterns in service.
Toby Butler, the company’s UK Managing Director, comments, “Across the UK, we are seeing growing demand from councils and local authorities of all sizes for our industry-leading public charging infrastructure.”
In London, Westminster Council is among the most prominent clients and is working towards a 2,000-strong Ubitricity network, “the highest number of any London borough,” Michael Sharkey of Siemens eMobility said. Siemens is Ubitricity’s partner.
They claim they have completed over 4,500 streetlamp charge point installations across the capital, significantly funded by the Go Ultra Low Cities Scheme.
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