EV Infrastructure delivery will power London’s drive toward sustainable growth

Reaching the mayor’s target of a carbon neutral capital by 2030 will mean doubling down on the delivery of electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure.

Arcadis’ recently published Global Cities Index 2022, one of the most in-depth studies of its kind, found that London remains one of the most prosperous cities in the world. Its environmental score in the Index is boosted by its public transport, but it could be improved further if the potential of EVs was fully harnessed.

Driving uptake and demand for EVs could help reduce carbon emissions in London by between 1.5 and 2.6 million tonnes per year by 2030. While demand is rising, only 10 per cent of new cars in 2021 were EVs.

Electrifying progress

London is currently home to more than 30 per cent of the UK’s electric vehicle charging points and has the highest rate of charging points per 100,000 population in the UK. But despite this electrifying progress, there remains a huge amount to be done to increase access and availability of EV charging stations and locate them in the most suitable locations for EV users.

Tackling this challenge will pay dividends. EVs will bring considerable benefits to the way we move around the city. Smarter, cleaner vehicles will help us to improve productivity by reducing journey times, as well as improving the cityscape, reducing air pollution and ultimately reducing waste by re-using and recycling batteries.

Key to accelerating the roll-out of EV charging infrastructure for road users is a better use of data to guide prioritisation

By 2030, London will need 40-60,000 charging points (4,000 of which will be rapid) to meet demand, up from 9,600 today. This equates to installing ten new chargers every day in the capital by the end of the decade.

Reaching this target will require private sector funding and a regulatory framework that incentivises much needed private investment. It will also require close public-private collaboration and information sharing in areas such as demand for EV charging, funding, land use, electrical grid capacity and EV user experience. All of this begins with data.

Data pilot

That’s why the London First EV data pilot convened business leaders, data owners and experts as well as key stakeholders from London’s government, TfL and national government to look at how data collaboration could enable the creation of a richer picture of user demand and, ultimately, provide policy solutions under the umbrella of the Data for London Framework. The pilot also serves as a clear market signal to investors on levels of demand which will, in turn, help to crowd-in private capital investment to EV infrastructure.

The report on the pilot’s progress, Electric Vehicles: developing a consumer-led approach to infrastructure planning, found that the key to accelerating the roll-out of EV charging infrastructure for road users is a better use of data to guide prioritisation. It recommends the creation of a tool that uses data to map possible EV infrastructure locations based on consumer demand. This map could then be expanded to cover the whole of Greater London, creating a way of de-risking planning of future EV infrastructure and providing an evidence base to incentivise increased private sector investment.

Reaching the mayor’s target of a carbon neutral capital by 2030 will mean doubling down on the delivery of electric vehicle infrastructure.

The work concludes that while central London is well catered for in terms of EV infrastructure, there is a dense residential zone in-between the central and suburban areas where there is likely to be high demand but less off-street parking to enable people to charge their vehicles at home.

The persona-led analysis also suggests that many car journeys originate or terminate in this zone and that investment here would help residents transition to EVs faster. London First will be working with our members, data owners and signatories to the Data Charter to progress this important work in the coming months, supporting the transition to cleaner, smarter mobility in London through harnessing the unprecedented power of data. Watch this [parking] space for more.

John Kavanagh is programme director, Infrastructure at London First, the business group with the mission to make London the best city in the world in which to do business.