New project will address EV inequality

A new project will address electric vehicle (EV) inequality in the London Borough of Lambeth. 

EV ownership is increasing year on year, with registrations up 117% in 2021 compared to last year. 

However, the uptake has exposed various inequalities, with those living in urban centres, high-rise flats and council estates significantly less likely to have access to a private driveway, making it difficult to install home charging solutions. 

As a result, households which have access to a driveway make up 80% of EV owners. 

With approximately one-third of residents in Lambeth living on estates managed by the council, the council has partnered with Connected Kirb to improve EV charging infrastructure across the borough. 

The project includes 22 on-street EV chargers across 11 council estates in the Borough, with the aim to provide easy access to public charging, even for those without off-street parking. 

This forms part of the council’s wider strategy to work with multiple charge point operators to install more than 200 charge points by 2022, with the aim of ensuring that every household with no off-street parking is within a 5-minute walk of their nearest public charge point. 

The council hope that this will act as a blueprint that can be adopted at scale across other boroughs, councils and cities across the uk.

Deputy Mayor for environment and energy, Shirley Rodrigues, said: ‘London is leading the way in EVs – thanks to the GLA, TfL and boroughs have been working together and have delivered 7,000 points across the city, accounting for 30 per cent of all charge points in the UK – but we must ensure no community is left behind in the transition.

‘Equal access to public charging is a key step towards a fair switch to clean transport and vital if we are to meet our ambition of being a zero-carbon city by 2030. Connected Kerb was the winner of the Mayor’s Civic Innovation Challenge on electric vehicles (EV) in 2018, where they worked with National Grid to successfully trial first-of-a-kind EV charging bays in London. Projects like this are a great example for the rest of London and the UK.’

The long-term business model means Lambeth will have access to a secure revenue stream to maintain and expand the network. 

This project was funded in part through the UK Government’s On-Street Residential Charge Point Scheme, available to all local authorities in the UK. Through the scheme, 75% of the costs were financed by the Office for Zero-Emission Vehicles and the remaining costs were covered by the council.

Photo by Ed Harvey