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London Mayor Falling Short Of Electric Vehicle Targets

1 February 2012

The Mayor still has a considerable distance to go if he is to deliver on his aim to see 100,000 electric vehicles on the streets of London, a new report from the London Assembly says today (1 February)

Charging Ahead?,

by the Assembly's Environment Committee, says progress has been made since 2009 when the Mayor committed to making London the electric car capital of Europe, but he faces a formidable challenge ahead to achieve his targets.

With 2,313 electric vehicles currently in London, the Mayor is only two percent of the way towards his goal of 100,000 on the streets as soon as possible. There are around 400 charge points across London compared to his recent target of 1300 by next year and original target of 25,000 by 2015.

There are also fewer than 50 electric vehicles in the Greater London Authority (GLA) fleet compared to the Mayor's aim of 1000 by 2015.

The Committee warns that the Mayor's current electric vehicles plan will deliver environmental benefits too slowly and calls on him to publish an updated version, clarify his targets and set out timescales for implementing the charging network.

More than £1m was given to boroughs between 2008 and 2010 to install charge points and increase electric vehicle use across London but some boroughs have struggled to secure members for their scheme.

Murad Qureshi AM, environment committee chair said: "Electric vehicles could help improve London's air quality but only if there are enough of them and they are used over a long period of time.

"Currently progress is slow and we are concerned that it could take many years before we see any environmental benefits from the Mayor's ambitious plans.

"If the Mayor wants to encourage more Londoners to drive electric vehicles, he must demonstrate that the charging network is adequate and fits with the way people will actually charge their vehicles. It is unclear at the moment whether it is　delivering value for money　given the sums already spent on it."

The report notes electric vehicles can offer environmental benefits and have a part to play in trying to clean up London's environment, but any benefits are likely to be long term and more work is needed to understand the environmental impacts of the technology.

It also highlights the financial incentives available to encourage people to use electric vehicles, including Government grants, and exemption from the congestion charge and free or subsidised parking in some boroughs.　　　

However, uptake is slow which the report attributes to a lack of information about the up-front, resale and ongoing cost of electric cars and worries about the distance vehicles can travel.

The Committee wants to the Mayor to:

focus more on vehicles such as taxis, light goods vehicles and buses to make a significant impact on air quality and lower CO2 emissions over the short to medium term

improve on current numbers of electric vehicles in the GLA fleet

commission research on the full carbon footprint of electric vehicles and work with energy suppliers on the potential for public charging points to use renewable energy.

develop a communications strategy with the motor industry to increase public awareness and knowledge about electric vehicles and publish real time data on charging points.