BluepointLondon will add 1,000 electric vehicle (EV) charge points to the capital’s network this year, in response to seeing demand more than double over the past year to just under 50,000 charges, the firm said yesterday.
The new points will be added to the Source London network across 20 London Boroughs, including Westminster, Greenwich and Southwark, with a further six boroughs said to be considering signing up to the scheme.
BluepointLondon has only spent £25m of the £100m budget available to roll out the infrastructure, meaning further expansion is possible to keep pace with demand.
Charge point use under the Source London scheme increased steadily last year, according to data released by the company, before rising sharply between August and November, and then slightly decreasing due to the “holiday period”.
“This surge in usage shows that electric vehicle users increasingly need a far more comprehensive network of charge points,” said BluepointLondon in a statement.
The expansion of the network comes amidst similar commitments from other network operators to increase the number of chargepoints.
The move is likely to be welcomed by the government, which has earmarked EVs as a key component of its strategies to curb greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.
As well as improving air quality in cities, a report by VUB University in Brussels recently confirmed that electric cars are responsible for significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions than conventional vehicles, even when reliant on dirty energy sources.
The report showed that EVs used in Poland, where 90 per cent of electricity is generated using coal power, still resulted in CO2 emissions that were 25 per cent less overall compared to diesel vehicles. EVs used in countries with cleaner grids would also deliver significantly larger emission reductions.
Many car manufacturers are now targeting the rollout of more electric cars, as sales across the sector continue to outperform the wider auto market.
Source: businessgreen.com
