The Idea

Electric cars can reduce pollution and save motorists up to £1,000 a year compared with petrol-powered alternatives. The number sold across the UK has trebled in the last year, and looks set to skyrocket.

But with few Camden homes having garages or drives, most residents would need to use public, on-street charging points. And Camden has one of the smallest networks of publicly-available electric vehicle charging points in central London.

Labour-run Camden installed just 24 in the past recent twelve months: an insignificant fraction of the 539 installed by Conservative-run Westminster and 238 installed by Conservative-run Kensington & Chelsea.

Camden needs a dramatic expansion of electric vehicle charging points.

The Government has given local councils millions of pounds to install these points. Because of this, the cost to Camden Council of installing a new charging point in an existing lamp-post for less than £1,000.

That means Camden could install 2,000 in current lamp-posts, in a way that doesn’t block the street or require extensive engineering, for less than 10% of the amount it spends on transport every year!

For the last four years, Camden’s opposition Conservative local councillors have tabled plans to install 2,000 electric vehicle charge points, but have been voted down by Camden’s Labour and Lib Dem majority.

Scroll down to see our proposal and sign the petition for Camden to go electric.

The Plan

The Conservative Government has given local councils millions to install these points — which can be fitted in existing lamp-posts (so there’s no extra pavement-blocking clutter or construction work) for just £1,000.

We’ve been working with councillors in other boroughs to find the most effective and least intrusive ways to rapidly expand Camden’s sparse charging point network.

In Richmond-upon-Thames, the council won a bid to discreetly install hundreds of new points in existing lamp-posts. They’re being targeted at areas with the most demand, so they’re used. They’re an improvement on Camden’s existing ‘obelisk’ charging point because:

1. There’s no additional street clutter, as they fit inside existing lampposts.

2. As there’s no engineering work, so they can be installed in half an hour, with no street closures.

3. Because they’d be installed in such large numbers, the adjacent spaces wouldn’t need to be reserved for electric vehicles, meaning no loss of parking spaces for non-electric cars.

Across London, the power demands on the street lighting network have fallen by up to 60%, as councils move from fluorescent bulbs to LED lighting, which require less electricity to emit the same level of light. This means there’s enough spare power to charge several vehicles on each street, even with the current infrastructure.

When we’ve asked for more electric vehicles before, Camden responded by asking us to provide evidence that residents want more charging points in their area.

So if you do, let us know by signing our petition.

The Petition

Signing the petition below to tell Camden that you want more electric vehicle chargers in lamp posts in your area (so please give the full postcode, so we can tell Camden where!).