Project in Lambeth delivers EV charging for those without off-street parking

The London Borough of Lambeth has started a new project to help those without the ability to charge at home access public charging.

Lambeth is working with Connected Kerb to deliver the project, which includes 22 on-street EV chargers across 11 council estates in the Borough to provide easy access to public charging, even for those without off-street parking. 

It forms part of the council’s wider strategy to work with multiple charge point operators to install more than 200 charge points by 2022, with the aim of ensuring every household with no access to off-street parking is within a five-minute walk of their nearest charge point.
 
Those living in urban centres, high-rise flats and council estates are significantly less likely to have access to a private driveway, making it difficult to install home charging solutions. As a result, households which have access to a driveway make up 80% of EV owners, with the remaining 20% owned by those in houses or flats with no access to off-street parking. At the same time, these communities have the most to gain from the clean transport revolution due to being disproportionately exposed to the highest levels of toxic exhaust emissions and suffering significantly poorer air quality.
 
Chris Pateman-Jones, CEO of Connected Kerb, said: “People often think electric vehicles are the preserve of a fortunate few with detached houses and driveways, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. With running costs much lower than petrol and diesel cars, all communities, regardless of where they live, their social background, or whether they have a driveway or not, have lots to gain.
 
“Unfortunately, some communities are being failed by a classic chicken and egg scenario. Without high EV adoption, charge point operators won’t build public charging, and without reliable charging, why would anyone go electric? We have designed our business model to overcome this and with Lambeth Council, we are delivering a fairer and equitable clean transport future – here and right across the UK.”
 
Approximately a third of residents in Lambeth live on estates managed by the council and the majority of housing in the Borough does not have off-street parking. This means that a large proportion of drivers will have to rely on public EV charging infrastructure. The project will therefore act as a blueprint that can be adopted at scale by other boroughs, councils and cities across Britain to deliver an inclusive and equitable EV transition, serving all members of society, including the 40% of households nationally without off-street parking.

Each of Connected Kerb’s chargers will provide a 7kW fast charge, perfect for habitual on-street charging where residents are parked for a predictable amount of time each day. Every charge point will feature contactless payment via the Connected Kerb app with a consistent network and tariff across the sites, enabling fair and equal access for everyone.