Wandsworth Council has claimed that it currently has the highest number of publicly available EV charge point sockets in London.
Data compiled by Zap-Map, which reveals where charging points are across the entire British Isles, reportedly shows there are more in Wandsworth than in any other London borough.
According to the council, there are more than 560 EV charging points in Wandsworth, of which just under 400 have been supplied by Ubitricity qnd the remainder by Siemens and Source London. Additional chargers have also been installed on the borough’s main trunk roads by Transport for London.
This number was boosted in September with the completion of a council project to install 167 sockets, including every available and suitable lampost in two neighbourhoods in Battersea’s Shaftesbury ward and Putney’s Thamesfield ward.
By early next year another 140 lampost sockets are set to come on stream with further installations planned later in 2021. Wandsworth Council said this will help it to meet its current target of delivering nearly 900 on-street charging points.
According to the council, the two areas in Battersea and Putney were chosen for such a high concentration of on-street sockets because they will both be directly adjacent to an expanded Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) that is expected to be in place in October 2021 and will include all areas of London within the north and south circular roads.
If the ULEZ is extended as currently proposed, all vehicles and motorcycles that enter the zone but don’t comply with its emission restrictions will have to pay £12.50 a day – with EVs exempt from the charge.
The annual number of plug-in vehicles registered in Wandsworth has reportedly grown from 252 in 2012 to around 5,000 today – with numbers said to be rising by more than 10% every three months.
Wandsworth Council’s transport spokesman, John Locker, said: “The rapid growth in the number of charging points we have supported and overseen in Wandsworth means that running an EV is now much more of a realistic choice for our residents.
“Fitting sockets to so many lamposts has helped make electric vehicle ownership a realistic prospect for our residents.”
