The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, announced yesterday that London’s electric vehicle recharging network will launch in spring 2011.
Source London will provide 1300 public charging points across the capital by 2013 and create a single network for all electric vehicle drivers.
Currently, the city’s 2000 plus electric vehicle drivers have to register in each London borough where they want to use charging points.
Under the new system, drivers would have to pay up to £100 in membership fees a year, but would be allowed to use any public charging point anywhere in the capital.
Once the network is complete, Source London will provide twice as many charge points than petrol stations in the capital, says David Brown of Transport for London, which is leading the development along with London boroughs and other private sector partners.
Siemens has been chosen as the primary IT and services partner for Source London until the end of 2013, providing back-office operations including member registrations and customer service.
London already has the largest number of electric vehicles in the country, with 23.5% of all electric or hybrid cars registered in the capital, but Johnson wants to see this rise to 100,000 vehicles.
“Through the development of Source London, we are seeking to create the fertile conditions for electric vehicles to flourish to make our city the electric driving capital of Europe,” he adds.
Discussions are also taking place with other UK cities to develop similar electric vehicle charging networks, which could be linked together to create a single, national network.