Ubitricity has announced that it is expanding its network of streetlight EV charge points on National Clean Air Day. The charging sockets will now also be found in Richmond, adding to the existing London boroughs of Hounslow, Richmond, Westminster, and Kensington & Chelsea.
Ten new units will be installed for use by residents across Twickenham and Barnes, providing points for on-street EV charging.
The points draw on the same energy supply as the lamp-post and charging costs are recorded by the smart charger attached to the charging cable. The system has been designed for low-power charging for local residents and workers without access to off-street parking.
The overall cost of installing the unit and a smart meter charging cable is around £1,000, though local authorities are able to access funding from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles at present to cover at least some of this cost.
Richmond Council Cabinet Member for Highways, Cllr Peter Buckwell said: “Poor air quality is one of the biggest issues facing London. We need to do everything we can to cut vehicle emissions.
“Supporting the take up of electric cars is a key priority for this Council. These zero or low-emission vehicles have the potential to reduce local air pollution but we have to provide the charging infrastructure if that is going to happen.
“I hope that as we continue to roll out more charging points, even more residents will start buying electric cars. They aren’t just good for the environment, they are also good for the pocket.”
Greg Edwards, Transport Planner at the London Borough of Hounslow said: “The Council has faced a number of challenges installing electric vehicle charging infrastructure in residential areas because of concerns around the addition of street clutter and the associated costs with installation.
“There have also been challenges with implementing dedicating parking for electric vehicles, which we’ve found can cause friction between residents at a time when electric vehicles make up a small share of the overall market.
“We turned to ubitricity for its solution, which utilises streetlights, because it addresses many of these issues. Because the technology can be retrofitted into existing streetlights, we can avoid adding unnecessary street furniture to residential streets and since we can connect to an existing electrical supply we also avoid any associated civils work, which subsequently reduces installation time and overall cost.
“As part of our offer to residents, we have installed 36 charge points with 12 Hounslow residents participating in a dedicated trial and we will be installing 75 charge points by Summer 2019.”
We hope to add Ubitricity points on Zap-Map soon. If successful, they would be displayed on both the live map and smartphone apps.
