London home to more than 5,000 electric vehicle charging points

New Government figures show the Capital is leading the way when it comes to provision for electric vehicle charging.

The DfT statistics, published earlier this month, show as of 1 April 2020, there were 5,069 electric vehicle charging points publicly available in London – more than a quarter of the UK total (17,947).

Breaking down the figure by borough, Westminster has the greatest number of charging points (570), followed by Wandsworth (443) and Kensington and Chelsea (306).

Of the 5,069 charging points available across the Capital – 430 are defined as rapid.

At 57, London also has the most number of charging points per 100,000 of population – with its figure more than double the UK average of 27.

It sits at the top of the table, followed by Scotland (38) and the North East (30).

Conversely, Northern Ireland (16), Yorkshire and the Humber (16), the West Midlands (17) and the East of England are among the worst performing areas.

The Government admits there is an ‘uneven geographical distribution’ – but says while some local authorities have bid for funding for charging devices, others have not.

The UK figure of 17,947 represents a year-on-year rise of 55% (up from 11,605) – and is also 402% higher than the end of 2015, when the number of charging points stood at 3,576.

In September 2019, the Government announced a £400 million fund to help develop rapid charging infrastructure points for electric vehicles.

The first £70 million investment will aim to create 3,000 new rapid charge points by 2024, more than doubling the number across the UK to 5,000.

The investment is designed to complement a £1.5 billion package to boost the uptake of electric vehicles – part of the Government’s drive to end the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles.

Government figures show that in 2019, there were 90,000 pure battery-electric cars on Britain’s roads – in addition to 145,000 plug-in hybrid cars.


25 June 2020