The borough of Barnet is set to host more than one in six of all of London’s electric vehicle (EV) on-street charge points, after Barnet Council secured a £5.19m government grant.
Funding from the Office for Zero Emissions Vehicles’ On-Street Residential Charge Point Scheme (ORCS) will pay for 60% of the total project costs of installing 1,293 EV charge points. This will add to the almost 800 public charge points already installed in the borough.
By the completion of the scheme in 2024, Barnet will have over 2,000 public EV charge points; according to the latest Department for Transport data, there are 11,521* points in the whole of Greater London. Based on current figures, Barnet would have the most of all London boroughs.
In comparison, Wales currently has 1,465* and Northern Ireland 366*.
The project will comprise the installation of 500 lamp column charge points, as well as up to 793 non-lamp column residential charge points in 64 locations around the borough. With grant funding secured, Barnet Council has now started the procurement process to appoint a supplier.
Cllr Alan Schneiderman, Barnet’s Environment and Climate Change Committee Chair, said:
“Investing in 1,300 more EV charge points puts Barnet on track in its plans to become a net zero borough and make our air cleaner. By hosting one of the capital’s largest public charge points programme we’re removing the anxiety that can come with owning an electrical vehicle, giving confidence to our drivers that they’ll never be far from somewhere to plug in. Steering our way to a more sustainable transport infrastructure shows how we’re caring for people, our places and the planet.”
Barnet is London’s second largest borough by population and has the capital’s second-highest rate of electric vehicle car ownership.**
Barnet Council has been shortlisted in the Future Places category in the 2023 LGC Awards for the first phase of its EV charge point installation programme, which saw the council partner with Trojan Energy to place 510 charge points in 34 residential streets across the borough. The shortlisted scheme will also see the council partnering with JOLT to install 120 fast charging stations.
