Hackney Council wins government funding for 110 more electric vehicle charging points

A charger close to Hackney Town Hall. Photograph: Julia Gregory

The government has given Hackney Council a share of £2.5m for more electric vehicle (EV) charging points.

It is handing out money to energise plans for 110 more charging spots in London, with Hounslow and Waltham Forest councils also successful in their funding bids.

It is part of Whitehall investment for 2,400 points in 16 areas of the country.

Hackney Council also has its own plans to fit more EV charging points over the next two years.

It aims to create 80 bays a year for existing charging points and replace its own diesel fleet of vehicles with electric cars, bikes and e-bikes.

A fifth of harmful carbon emissions in Hackney come from transport and the council wants to see people using EVs “where a sustainable mode of transport is not an option”.

It said: “Electrifying transport will have one of the largest impacts on carbon emissions generated within the borough.”

Just 2.7 per cent of the 42,000 cars registered in Hackney are plug-in EVs. This includes 582 pure EVs.

It is estimated that a fifth of vehicles on Britain’s roads in 2030 will be battery electric.

Hackney wants to see a more ambitious transition, and is hoping for 90 per cent of vehicles being electric by 2040, along with a drop in private vehicle ownership.

There are 303 charging points points in bays and on lampposts in Hackney so far, and the council said it had met a target for everyone to be within 500 metres of a charger.

The council’s principal transport officer Constant McColl said: “Hackney has one of the most ambitious plans to encourage residents and businesses to switch to EVs through a borough-wide network of EV chargers, which will reach 3,000 charge points by 2030.”

It is estimated the rollout will cost £19.5m.

The council aims to install 1,500 of the charging points by 2026.