Newham residents will find it easier to switch to electric vehicles with the announcement that 400 new electric vehicle (EV) charging points will be installed across residential streets in Newham.
Newham Council’s Cabinet agreed today (8 March 2022) for the Council to enter into a funding agreement with UBER B.V. for £2.6m to deliver up to 400 charging points.
The charging points will be available for all electric vehicle drivers in Newham to use. This was one of the Council’s main conditions before any potential agreement could be discussed.
The Mayor of Newham, Rokhsana Fiaz, said:
“We have been working hard to tackle toxic air pollution and to improve the quality of the environment in the borough. There is a huge challenge to meet and part of that is reducing pollution from vehicles.
“We know that residents want to do their part and many are changing over to electric vehicles and the infrastructure is needed to ensure they can make that change and contribute to lower emissions.
“This agreement with UBER brings funding into Newham to help make charging more available, which can help support the jobs of thousands of Newham-based drivers. We promised to increase our EV charging points and this will help create a bigger network of chargers that all our residents can use and benefit from.”
Newham has the worst air quality of any London borough. Around 50% of Newham’s air quality problems are generated by motor transport. The transition of vehicle fleets towards zero emission battery electric vehicles, complemented by emissions-based parking charges to incentivise the transition, will make a significant contribution to improving the borough’s air quality.
Cllr James Asser, Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Sustainable Transport said:
“Over the next few years UBER will be moving to an all-electric fleet and Newham has the largest number of UBER drivers in London, meaning that demand is going to increase rapidly in the borough and many of our residents will need charging points to continue working. This partnership makes sense for everyone.
“The transition of our residents and businesses to zero emission vehicles is a key component in delivering an improvement in Newham’s air quality and to address the Climate Emergency. The lack of charging points is a major constraint to electric vehicle ownership after the initial outlay cost of an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle.
“We are committed to delivering on our sustainability agenda, to supporting residents who want to move to electric vehicles and we will continue to pursue partnership opportunities, like this, to deliver on those commitments.”
A procurement process led wholly by the Council will now start to select a preferred charge point operator to provide, install, operate and maintain a network of public electric vehicle chargers in the borough.
In 2020, a potential funding opportunity emerged with UBER B.V., the Dutch parent company of UBER private hire in the UK, with UBER B.V. offering the private funding for a Local Authority procurement exercise by means of an Infrastructure Funding Agreement (IFA) to deliver public on-street electric vehicle chargers to help their drivers transition towards zero emission vehicles and to achieve their aim of an zero emission fleet in London by 2025.