Huge disparity in electric car charge points across capital

A HUGE disparity in the number of electric vehicle charging points that Londoners living in different parts of the capital can access is revealed today.

Campaigners warned councils and the Government that they must take “urgent” action if the UK is to reach its target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Data from the Department for Transport shows the wealthiest inner boroughs have up to 360 car charging points per 100,000 people, while some outer areas have fewer than eight.

Think tank Policy Exchange said there was a risk of creating “charging blackspots” in some areas unless the roll-out speeds up.

The highest number of points per 100,000 people are in Kensington and Chelsea (269) Westminster (247) and the City of London (360).

Havering and Hillingdon were at the bottom, with fewer that eight chargers per 100,000 people.

Tower Hamlets came bottom of the inner London boroughs with 78 charging points (24 per 100,000 people).

However, the council said it had already started installing a further 182, which would all be in place this year.

Charging points are integrated into street lamps and paid for by City Hall and government grants. London has around 6,000 points overall.

Ben Nelmes, head of policy at research group New AutoMotive, said: “We urgently need to see central and local government working together to use the available data to get more electric vehicle chargers on the street if we are going to get to net zero by 2050. Councils need to start preparing now to make sure the infrastructure is in place.”

London needs to increase its number of charging points hugely to achieve the ambition of being the “ultra-low emission vehicle capital of Europe”.

Mayor Sadiq Khan released £10million of funding, announced in November, plus a further £40million for the two years from April 2021 to pay for green energy and transport initiatives.