London Mayor Boris Johnson revealed his electric vehicle plans for the UK capital, which included a promise that no Londoner would be more than one mile from a charging point by 2015.
At a somewhat peripheral meeting at the Copenhagen climate change summit, Johnson spoke to over 80 different mayors from the around world.
His message: London will be a city that emphasizes the electric vehicle by making ownership feasible and convenient for its citizens. This includes a pledge to have 25,000 charging stations around the city--one for every neighborhood.
The mayor said that 22,500 charge points would be installed at workplaces, with a further 500 deployed on city streets and 2,000 made available in car parks. He added that a network of special fast-charge points would be installed at key locations on the road network and at motorway service stations in the South East.
Peter Hendy, commissioner of Transport for London (TfL), said the plans would further strengthen the case for businesses and individuals to switch to electric vehicles.
"Not only do electric vehicles produce 50 per cent less carbon emissions than their diesel counterparts, they are also cheaper to run," he said. "Increasing the numbers of electric vehicle charging points all over the capital will provide Londoners with the option to use a more sustainable form of private transport that is also more economical to operate."
The new electric car programme, which will also include guidance and incentives to help businesses switch to electric vehicle fleets, is expected to cost £60m.
Johnson has pledged to cover a third of the investment and the remainder is expected to be provided by the private sector and central government, with the Mayor's Office revealing that TfL is working to form a consortium to apply for government infrastructure funding.
Source: BusinessGreen.com
A fiction writer who has won awards for his work, Harry has recently shifted focus to society’s role in bettering the world. For him, this means a keen interest in sustainable living, which also includes renewable energy. His regular contributions to Energyboom often deal with the highly-debated biofuel industry, a topic he finds to be a continuous source of learning and controversy.
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25,000 charging stations only
25,000 charging stations only in London? That's impressive, I didn't expect to see such a high number though. How many gas stations are currently in London? I figure this number is a lot smaller. The thing is that soon the area will have an infrastructure for electric cars, now is a good moment to set up a business for the new niche. As I am familiar with Fox Rent A Car, an electric car rental company would be an excellent idea.
Excellent Idea
Love the idea, but the link doesn't take me to the actual paper. I'll look into it.
charging points
That’s an interesting idea in this research paper: a parking space for your EV with inductive charging built into the pavement of the parking space. You just pull into the space, and the car gets inductively charged from the parking space itself. It would eliminate electric cords, which will probably wear out or be vandalized.
Thanks For the Comment(s)
Certainly a step in the right direction, yes? International laws would come in handy, also, in regards to where the electricity is coming from. If the energy going to EV's is coming from unsustainable sources, then we're not really getting anywhere are we?
International Laws
I travel all over the world and it is great to see that a lot of countries are switching to electrical power. I think there needs to be some international laws in place to be sure that standards like these are being met. The more countries that jump on board with this, the more green friendly are Earth will become. Atlas America|Workholding