A London street has seen all its lamp posts converted to EV charging points. Sutherland Avenue in W9 (dubbed ‘Electric Avenue’) is the first road of its kind in the UK
The project was a collaboration between Ubitricity and Westminster City Council. It saw 24 lamp posts converted to charging points.
A further two adjoining roads are due to be finished in the coming weeks. Siemens and Ubitricity have now completed more than 1,300 installations across the city.
“Lamp post charging gives people without driveways a very convenient, low cost, renewable, energy-friendly way to charge their EVs,” said Daniel Bentham, MD of Ubitricity.
“Cars spend 95 percent of their lives idle, so it makes sense to charge them while the driver is doing something else, like sleeping or working. Our technology is designed to keep installation and maintenance costs low, which translates to long-term low costs for EV drivers and councils.”
At present, Westminster City Council has more EV plug-in points than any other UK local authority. Electric Avenue is just part of its 296-strong lamp post network. Over the next 12 months, it plans to have 1,000 charge points in the area.
By contrast, public perception on available charge points is not favourable. Motorists believe there are between 100 and 200 EV charging points in London. That’s less than 10 percent of the installations Siemens alone has made. A third believe there are no charging points near their home or where they work.
“In a city that suffers from some of the worst air pollution in the country, we need to be supporting the change to green technology as much as we can,” said Andrew Smith of Westminster City Council.
“Electric Avenue gives us a glimpse into the future of streets in Westminster, where we hope to provide the infrastructure needed for our residents to make the switch to cleaner, greener transport.”