Mayor announces 80 new rapid charge points, but Addison Lee emphasises ‘inconsistency of prices’
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has announced that more than 80 new rapid charging electric points are to be delivered across the capital.
Private hire operator Addison Lee welcomed the news, but emphasised ‘the inconsistency of prices’ for those that rely on public charging facilities compared to those that have cheaper home charger access.
London has almost a third of all the charge points in the UK, and the highest volume and share of rapid charge points for any European city. The Mayor published his EV Infrastructure Strategy in December 2021, which forecast that London will need between 40,000 to 60,000 public charge points by 2030. Up to 4,000 of these will need to be rapid. To date, there are 12,800 charge points in London, of which over 900 are rapid or ultra-rapid.
TfL will be inviting bids from suppliers for two delivery contracts which include 51 sites in total across North and South London and will deliver 83 charging bays, adding to the initial lot of sites which went out to market in November 2022. The sites are located on strategic roads to support high mileage, essential road users such as commercial vehicles and businesses. In May 2023, a delivery contract was awarded to Zest, with 39 rapid charging bays expected to be delivered by the end of 2024.
This will mean that TfL have released 122 rapid charging bays to the market in total, exceeding the initial target of 100. Subject to the supplier and agreed contracts, the remaining sites could all be delivered by the end of 2025.
Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “Zero-emission freight is an area which has been considered a significant barrier in the shift to decarbonising road transport. That is why I’m delighted to support Volta Trucks, who have recently launched the London trial of their first fully electric heavy goods vehicle (HGV).
“The new Volta Zero vehicle is the future of London’s freight – world-leading in terms of green technology, while also meeting the highest safety standard which can be awarded to an HGV.
“As more electric vehicles come onto our roads, it’s vital that London has the infrastructure to support them. TfL will be releasing another two batches of sites to the market to deliver public rapid and ultra-rapid charge points across its road network. These sites will play a huge part in supporting high mileage, essential road users such as commercial vehicles and businesses and will help us work towards building a greener and more prosperous London for everyone.
“But while London is leading the way, we need to see more action nationally to pick up the pace delivering electric vehicle infrastructure. When it comes to making the transition to cleaner vehicles and delivering the benefits of cleaner air, this must be considered an urgent national mission."
Andrew Wescott, Director of Sustainability & Regulation at Addison Lee, said: “Since starting our transition to electric in 2021, access to reliable charging infrastructure has been, and remains to be, the biggest barrier facing mass EV adoption. We therefore welcome plans from the Mayor of London to install 80 new rapid charging electric points across the city.
“However, cost of charging and the inconsistency of prices also presents barriers to EV adoption. Government must work with charging providers to remove the discrepancies in costs between those who can charge at home and those who rely on the charging network, particularly in cities where home charging is not the norm.”
