Almost £4.5 million has been allocated to London boroughs to install electric vehicle charging infrastructure on the capital's streets.

A total of 25 boroughs, each receiving up to £300,000, will install 1,500 standard-speed on-street charging points in residential areas.

The funding allocations have been sought based on perceived demand and electric vehicle take-up.

The £4.48 million, allocated on Thursday (August 3), forms part of an award London received from the government’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles’ Go Ultra Low City Scheme - a nationwide competition to give several areas funding to increase electric vehicle use.

The boroughs given funding under the award are:

  • Barnet,
  • Bexley,
  • Brent,
  • Camden,
  • Croydon,
  • Ealing,
  • Greenwich,
  • Hackney,
  • Hammersmith and Fulham,
  • Havering,
  • Hounslow,
  • Islington,
  • Kensington and Chelsea,
  • Lambeth,
  • Lewisham,
  • Merton,
  • Newham,
  • Redbridge,
  • Richmond,
  • Southwark,
  • Tower Hamlets,
  • Waltham Forest,
  • Wandsworth,
  • Westminster.
Brent council has erected its first Electric Vehicle Charge Point in the borough as they look to tackle poor air quality.
Brent's first Electric Vehicle Charge Point is up and running on Dudley Road

Further funding will be allocated to interested boroughs in 2018/19 once Transport for London, London Councils and the Greater London Authority are happy with progress being made on the current allocation.

The new funding will make it easier for those without access to off-street parking to make the switch from polluting vehicles to zero-emission vehicles

They will be in addition to the network of rapid charge points TfL is installing by the end of 2020.

The charging points created using this funding will be either specially constructed ‘" freestanding" ones or innovative new approaches such as using lamp posts as the base and power supply for charge points.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s long-term vision for zero-carbon transport in the capital is brought another step closer with this new funding.

Air pollution deaths

Air pollution contributes to 40,000 premature deaths across the country with more than 9,000 in London every year, Tfl claims.

The mayor has already announced plans to introduce the central London Ultra Low Emission Zone in 2019; the zone would be expanded London-wide for heavy vehicles by 2020 and to Inner London for all other vehicles by 2021.

TfL and the mayor have also announced three more electric-only bus routes.

London already boasts the largest electric bus fleet in Europe with more than 2,500 hybrid electric buses running across the capital.

The addition of new fully electric buses on routes 46, 153 and 214 will bring the total number of electric buses in London to over 170.

This includes route 360, which will convert to fully electric buses later this year, and routes 70 and C1 are set to follow in spring 2018.

A £42m fund was set out in July, to encourage the owners of the oldest, most polluting diesel black cabs to retire them from the capital’s fleet, another measure put in place by Tfl and the Mayor to clean London's air.

"Unacceptable that 9,000 people a year die early"

Cllr Julian Bell, chair of London Councils’ Transport and Environment Committee and chair of the GULCS Steering Group, said: “Improving London’s air quality by reducing emissions is a real priority for our city.

"It is unacceptable that 9,000 people a year die early in London due to air pollution. So it is great to see London boroughs bidding to invest in conveniently located electric vehicle charging points.

"This will help to ensure we have infrastructure in the right places to make it easier for people across the capital to choose electric vehicles.”

Lilli Matson, TfL’s head of strategy and outcome planning, said: “We’re delighted to be awarding this funding to these boroughs all of whom, like us, are determined to make London’s transport greener and its air quality better.

"We’d also like to thank these boroughs for being at the absolute forefront of the move to electric vehicles.”

All cars and vans zero emissions by 2050

Head of the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV), Natasha Robinson, said: “It’s fantastic to see the funding from the government’s Go Ultra Low City Scheme being used to help the residents of boroughs across London make the transition to ultra low emission vehicles.

"This helps to support the government’s ambition that almost all cars and vans should be zero emission by 2050.”

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