In the UK capital London, 1,150 charging points for electric cars will be integrated into street lamps over the next few years. This should make it easier for owners to charge their electric vehicle.
London has a total of 3,980 public charging points, while around 13,000 electric vehicles drive around the UK capital. Private charging points are not an option for many Londoners, as they do not have a private parking space where they can have a charging station installed. The city therefore needs more public charging points.
Go-Ultra Low City Scheme
The Go-Ultra Low City Scheme project is expected to address this need. Go-Ultra Low City Scheme is a project set up by the UK government's Office for Low Emission Vehicles. Car manufacturers Audi, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Toyota, Volkswagen and the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT) are also involved in the project. The project aims to support the market for ultra-low emissions vehicles.
As part of this project, additional public charging stations will be rolled out in four UK cities over the next few years. In addition to London, these will include Bristol, Nottingham and Milton Keynes. These cities will receive grants from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles to fund this rollout.
1,150 additional charging stations in London
Siemens and ubitricity announce they have been selected for the London part of the project. The companies have signed a contract to install 1,150 additional public charging points in the UK capital worth £3.7 million, or €4.15 million. The charging stations should be available by the end of 2020.
A striking feature of the project is that the newly installed charging posts will be integrated into existing street lamps in the British capital. As these streetlights are located right by the road, they are easily accessible to electric vehicle owners. The charging posts do not take up any additional space and can therefore be rolled out relatively easily along London's roads.
Integrated into existing streetlights
In addition, the charging stations will use the existing electric infrastructure of street lights. Not only can this speed up the rollout of the charging stations, but reusing this infrastructure will also reduce costs and help reduce inconvenience to local residents. Siemens reports that a streetlight can be converted into a charging station in just one hour, which is a fraction of the time it takes to install a stand-alone charging station.
To use the public charging points, users can use a special charging cable. This cable is equipped with a meter that identifies the charging point and prepares it for use. Data on the use of the charging station is automatically collected and transmitted to the provider, which then sends a bill to the user. It is also possible to use charging stations via a standard charging cable. In this case, charging must be pre-authorised via a mobile website.
Not the first charging posts in streetlights
Incidentally, the charging stations that have been announced are not the first to be integrated into street lamps in London. ubricity has been rolling out such charging stations in the UK capital since 2016. However, the number of charging stations in streetlights is still very limited; of London's total 3,980 charging stations, 300 have been integrated into streetlights by ubricity.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Source: Siemens (pictured)
Source: Go-Ultra Low City Scheme
