Hackney celebrates 300 charger milestone with launch of EV car club
Hackney Council is launching its first back-to-base electric vehicle car clubs, as it celebrates reaching a new 300 charger milestone.
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.
The Council has worked with Allego and Siemens to deliver 200 new EV chargers in the last six 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 two to four 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 the Smoov App as a guest or with an account using debit or credit cards.
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.
Cllr Mete Coban MBE, Cabinet Member for Energy, Waste, Transport and Public Realm, said: “Providing equal access to affordable electric vehicle charging across Hackney is a key part of our plan to rebuild a greener Hackney. Our vision is for the borough to be: greener, with more trees and wildlife; healthier, with more of us walking, cycling and taking public transport; and, cleaner, with better air quality.
“With the new car club and 300 new charging points, we are turbocharging Hackney for the electric vehicle transition, giving residents access to charging infrastructure that could save them hundreds of pounds every year. We are continuing to take the lead in rolling out electric vehicle charge point, with the outcome of an ambitious procurement programme for 2,000 on-street charges set to be announced later this year.”
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.
