Council set to approve a total of 125 in the borough

The council is set to approve up to 125 new electric vehicle charging points across Wandsworth to help fuel the growth in clean and green motoring. In the SW15 area the proposed new points will be at:

Keswick Road, SW15 2JF
Waterman Street, SW15 1DD
Chartfield Avenue, SW15 6HF
Longwood Drive, SW15 5DL
Commondale, SW15 1HL
Daylesford Avenue, SW15 5QP

Currently there are only a handful of public charging points in the borough, which could be limiting the number of people switching over to zero emission electric cars. In the roof carpark of Putney Exchange there are six free to use points.

The new charging points would be part of the Source London network which allows members to refuel their vehicles at hundreds of locations around the city.

The expansion plan comes amid increasing demand from residents to embrace electric vehicles. Currently there are 414 electric vehicle users within the borough, up from 97 registered in 2013.

Source London has also recorded a 28 per cent increase in Wandsworth members between April and December last year, and has had a further 63 membership requests in 2016 as demand continues to rise.

The proposal, backed this week by the council’s community services committee, recommends installing 20 to 25 ‘charging stations’ across Wandsworth, each of which would include 4 to 5 charging points.

Highly visible locations have been proposed to help raise awareness and encourage a higher take up. They are spread right across the borough, with many bays provided in areas with no parking restrictions or in place of single yellow lines to minimise the parking impacts.

If given final approval by the council’s cabinet, the installation programme is expected to take around 6 months and would be funded by Source London’s parent company Blue Point, with zero cost to the taxpayer.

Environment spokesman Councillor Jonathan Cook said:
“Supporting the fledgling electric car industry is a key priority for this council. These zero or low emission vehicles have the potential to dramatically reduce local air pollution but we have to provide the vital charging infrastructure first if that is going to happen. This proposal would vastly expand our existing charging network and enable many more drivers to make the switch to electric power cars.”

The council’s air quality action plan commits the authority to installing at least 45 electric vehicle charging points in the borough by April 2019, however this proposal would see the council exceeding that target.