Councillors have unanimously agreed a radical programme to install more than 700 new charging points on lampposts. The move will boost air quality and turn Wandsworth into a borough where electric cars are the ‘norm, not the exception.’
Members of the community services scrutiny committee on Tuesday also voted through plans for an eco-friendly electric car club to operate in the borough, helping make Wandsworth one of the UK’s most electric-car friendly authorities.
The number of electric vehicles registered in Wandsworth has grown from 127 at the end of 2015 to well over 400 – and has been rising by as much as ten per cent every three months. That number could rise to around 10,000 by 2025 if the right infrastructure is in place.
The plans will see at least 350 electric vehicle charging lampposts on borough streets which will be offered on request to residents who have already bought or are about to purchase a new electric car. The aim is to make it easier for people to switch to electric and make more eco-friendly travel the norm rather than the exception.
In addition charging plugs will be installed in every suitable lampposts within two pilot zones – around 150 in parts of Thamesfield ward close to busy Putney High Street, and around 240 in a large area of Shaftesbury ward in Battersea immediately adjacent to the proposed extension of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ). The results from these trial schemes could see lamppost charging extended to other residential areas.
Introducing lamppost charging points will have no impact on parking provision in the borough. There will be no restrictions on the types of vehicle allowed to use adjacent parking spaces, so they can be used by both electric and non-electric vehicles.
Read more: Wandsworth.gov