How Will The Other Half Charge?

Keith Johnston, cofounder of Urban Electric, talks on-street charging, the problems and solutions for the future and why the companys popup plug-in could be the answer to EV adoptionand reducing air pollution.

- Keith Johnston

Electric vehicles (EVs) are coming as they offer the best chance to improve air quality, public health in our cities and play a critical role in mitigating climate change. The UK government has set a date of 2040 to end the sale of diesel and petrol cars, however today, 22 years ahead of this deadline, 73% of Londoners support a diesel ban across the whole of London and 93% support a ban near schools and hospitals.

The environmental imperative is to increase the rate of EV adoption to speed up the transition from internal combustion engine vehicles to 100% electric vehicles. In this article I focus primarily on how we might enable private car and van drivers to make the switch to EV through the development of appropriate infrastructure solutions. In particular, we look at the options for the 50%+ of urban UK drivers (70% in inner London) that do not have a drive or garage for off-street charging, and so are currently unable or unwilling to make the switch from ICE to EV, regardless of the availability, price or range of EVs.

Understand what infrastructure is needed

Analysts estimate over £68 billion will be invested in electric vehicle technologies globally in the coming years. More than seven years after Nissan launched the Leaf, the first widely available electric car from a global OEM, and with most OEMs now having launched or about to launch their first full electric vehicles, sales remain supply-constrained, but are starting to accelerate as production is ramped up and new models come to market.