Hackney Council is launching its first back-to-base electric vehicle (EV) car clubs, as it reaches a new 300 charger milestone in its rollout of EV infrastructure.
The new shareable EVs will have designated charging bays in Stoke Newington, on Londesborough Road and Defoe Road. This adds to the existing 16 EVs currently available to Zipcar members.
It comes alongside news that the Council has now met its 2025 target of ensuring all residents are within 500m of an EV charger.
Previously the Council reported that drivers couldsave hundreds of pounds a year by switching to electric vehicles. By removing the upfront cost of purchasing a vehicle, the new electric car clubs expand the ability for residents to participate in the transition to electrified travel.
The Council has worked with Allego and Siemens to deliver 200 new EV chargers in the last 6 months. The new chargers include 24 new dual-socket fast-chargers that provide up to 22 kW of power and have the ability to charge cars and vans in around 2 to 4 hours and 180 lamp column chargers that are perfect for overnight charging. The car club cars will be charged using 7kW chargers provided by Agile streets who also provide publicly available smart charging in Hackney.
Drivers who want to connect to the new Agile streets charging points can make payment per kW via theSmoov Appas a guest or with an account using debit or credit cards.
70% of Hackney residents do not own cars. Car clubs aim to reduce private car ownership and provide a more equitable access to cars and vans for when people need to use motorised travel.
The Council’s investments come in the context of a national 2030 ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars. It is currently also assessing bids from private sector partners to help deliver up to 2,000 new charging points in the borough by 2030.
The new EV car club bays have been implemented as part of local improvements that have been part-funded by the Mayor of London’s Air Quality Fund. The scheme is part of the Go Ultra Low City Scheme (GULCS), a joint initiative between Transport for London (TfL), the Greater London Authority (GLA) and London Councils to install on-street EV charging points across the capital.
