The B2B platform for full-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles: Policy News

London’s mayor has revealed a £60 million plan to initiate Londons EV revolution. The ‘charge point plan’ will ensure that every Londoner will be within at least one mile of a charging terminal by 2015. This is part of London’s bid to take a leading role in a coalition of major cities working to boost the EV market.

At the Copenhagen climate summit today, Boris Johnson revealed a detailed plan to deliver a comprehensive network of electric charging terminals in the city, thereby supporting the mainstream use of zero carbon-emission electric vehicles. To be more precise, the plan stipulated that the Greater London Area (GLA) will see the construction and installation of over 25,000 charging terminals by 2015. The plan will be implemented with the various London boroughs and will ensure that every Londoner will be within one mile of a terminal. The current strategy aims that by 2015 the city will have 22,500 charge points at workplaces, with 500 on street and 2,000 in public car parks.

Addressing various city leaders at a parallel summit to the UNFCCC COP15 talks (the Summit of Mayors), Mr. Johnson reiterated London’s attempt to make electric mobility a reality for its citizens and ensure its place as European ‘electric capital’. 'A golden era of clean, green electric motoring is upon us and London is well ahead of cities around the globe in preparing the right conditions for this. Electric vehicles are a clear example of how technology can provide the solution to the biggest challenge of our generation', Mr Johnson said. The move places London at the forefront of a global coalition of major cities (including Honkong, Paris, Kyoto, Johannesburg and Mexico City) that are attempting to generate a large EV market through joint procurement commitments.

£60 million initiative

The speech revealed that the Mayor’s office will publish a detailed procurement framework to buy 1,000 EVs for the GLA group fleet by 2015. The total cost of the London ‘kick-start’ bid will amount to £60 million of which the mayor has pledged a third. Transport for London is currently working with a number of private and public sector organisations to establish a consortium that will apply for government infrastructure funding. Further government funding would be redirected towards incentives and guidance for businesses to electrify their fleet. The mayor seems optimistic about receiving the funding given the massive potential such a project has towards catalysing the EV market.

The ambitious project will revolutionise the charging infrastructure of London by increasing it by a factor of 41 (currently there are only 240 official charging terminals). It is hoped that the shift towards an EV fleet and infrastructure will be a significant generator of jobs. It is estimated that the projected 100,000 EVs will create thousands more jobs in car manufacturing, supply chain industries and their provision and maintenance for the EV infrastructure by 2015.

Sustainable mobility that will improve air quality

This is part of a grander initiative that will offer Londoners a choice to move towards low carbon mobility thereby providing an option to use a more sustainable form of private transport that is also more economical to operate. Electric cars will also deliver considerable benefits to the environment by improving air quality, cutting emissions and reducing noise pollution. Sixty-nine per cent of harmful particulate emissions in London come from road transport whereas electric cars have zero emissions when being driven. Electric vehicles also result in between thirty and forty per cent lower carbon emissions than comparable petrol or diesel cars and this will reduce further over time as the amount of energy - which charges the electric vehicles batteries - generated by renewable sources increases.