London Mayor launches electric vehicle delivery plan and announces overall transport strategy intentions
Mon 18 May 2009
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Boris Johnson, London's Mayor, has launched an “Electric Vehicle Delivery Plan” for the city. He has further published the Mayor’s Transport Strategy “Statement of Intent”, which is an initial scoping paper outlining new London transport policy on the environment, safety and initiatives for the 2012 Olympics.
The electric vehicle plan document forms the basis of the Mayor’s aspirations to make London a leading centre for electric vehicles. The paper aims set out a strategy to stimulate the market for electric vehicles in the capital through a focus on infrastructure, vehicles, and incentives, marketing and communications.
The Mayor promises to collaborate with London’s borough councils, central government, and public and private sectors and outlines the time scale for delivering 25,000 charging points across London by 2015, including a network of fast-charge points by 2012 and installation of charging points in London Underground stations from the end of 2009.
The Greater London Authority (GLA) will include 1,000 electric vehicles in its fleet by 2015, while working with fleet users and companies to expand the use of electric vehicles in business fleets. There will also be parking incentives and a guaranteed congestion charge discount as part of the Plan.
The Mayor has also published a transport strategy consultation. His “Statement of Intent”, is described as the Mayor's next step in his formal review of the Transport Strategy.
The Transport Strategy Statement of Intent sets out the foundations upon which the Mayor’s Transport Strategy will be built over the coming months and forms a framework for developing the new strategy. It also contains potential policies and proposals which could be developed further, setting the scene for a full draft of the Strategy which will be consulted on in the Autumn of 2009.
The Mayor's website says that although the Statement of Intent has been prepared for formal consultation with the London Assembly and the GLA Group, the Mayor would welcome informal comments from anyone at this stage. Written comments should be received by the GLA by 5pm on Monday 13 July 2009
Mayor invites the world to ‘plug in’ to London’s electric vehicle revolution
London announces its participation in an electric vehicle partnership with C40 group of large world cities to stimulate world market
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, today addressed Mayors from around the world at the C40 Climate Change Summit in Seoul, detailing London’s delivery plans to become a world leader in electric vehicle usage – the Mayor committed to share this experience to help other C40 cities to do the same and together create a massive market for electric vehicles.
The Mayor has pledged to make London the electric car capital of Europe by achieving at least 100,000 electric vehicles on the capital’s streets as soon as possible helping to stimulate the UK’s electric vehicle market, create ‘green collar’ jobs, cut carbon emissions and improve air quality. Today in Seoul, the Mayor published a detailed delivery plan outlining how London will achieve this goal, creating a large UK market for electric vehicles.
The Mayor also announced London's participation in a C40 partnership of cities dedicated to share experiences and agree practical steps in order to accelerate the global market for electric vehicles – this could include: procurement and promotion of electric vehicles in city fleets; the development of charging infrastructure; promotion of electric vehicle uptake for residents; and financial incentives for consumers. This group will compromise of London, Seoul, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Toronto. Bogota, Delhi, Sao Paulo, Beijing and Sydney also pledged to participate their involvement in this work.
The Mayor announced London will set up a dedicated electric vehicle centre of excellence within the Greater London Authority group to deliver the London delivery plan. The unit will also work with other cities seeking to take forward similar plans.
The Mayor, said: ‘Car manufacturers are already gearing up to make electric vehicles a common choice for consumers in just a few years' time. City leaders across the world must rise to the challenge of creating the right conditions to support their usage in our urban centres. The move to electric vehicles, which emit zero pollution on to our city streets, will have a massive impact on cutting carbon emissions to curb climate change whilst improving air quality and noise levels for our citizens.
‘London has today launched a comprehensive plan to make the UK capital the electric vehicle capital of Europe. We want to learn from the experiences of other cities, but have also pledged to share the London template in order to help stimulate a global market for electric vehicles.’
London’s electric vehicle delivery plan (available: www.london.gov.uk) pledges to work with London’s borough councils, central government, public and private sectors to make London a leading centre of electric vehicles. It includes timescales to deliver a comprehensive coverage of 25,000 charging points across London by 2015 with the areas identified as likely to be at the forefront of take-up, being prioritised. The plan includes a network of ‘fast-charge’ points to be operational by 2012. The installation of charging points in London Underground stations will start at the end of 2009.
As part of the revision to the London Plan - London’s spatial development plan – the Mayor plans to require that new developments with parking should provide electric charging points. This would result in thousands of charge points from adoption of the revised Plan in 2011.
London is now developing a joint procurement plan across the Mayor’s functional bodies to deliver 1,000 electric vehicles by 2015. Discussions will be undertaken with the Olympic Organising Committee to include significant numbers of electric vehicles in the London 2012 fleet.
The Mayor’s office will also conduct investigations to establish the operational requirements to deliver electric solutions for London’s other fleets, such as vans and minicabs, in the future.
There is already a strong incentive in London to use an electric vehicle, as these are exempt from the city’s central London congestion charge – the Mayor has in addition guaranteed this exemption in the future. Further incentives are identified under the Mayor’s delivery plan. Work will also be undertaken to encourage electric vehicle uptake through higher public awareness including the establishment of a common-branded charge point network and up-to-date, easily accessible online information.
Cities across the world consume 75 per cent of the world's energy and produce 80 per cent of its climate change emissions and the Seoul Summit is bringing together representatives from 80 cities around the world to champion practical ways to tackle this issue. The Mayor is visiting the Summit in his capacity as Honorary Deputy Chair of the C40 to work on practical ways that these large cities can cut carbon emissions and save energy. Whilst in Seoul the Mayor also visited the Seoul Olympic Park and took part in events to boost Korean inward investment to London.
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