Electric vehicle (EV) charging points will receive £932,500 in additional funding as part of the Islington Council’s plans to make transport more environmentally friendly.
The new funding will enable the installation of at least 840 new EV charging points across the borough.
New installations support the council’s ambition to deliver more than 1,400 on-street EV charge points by 2030.
Councillor Rowena Champion, Islington’s Executive Member for Environment, Air Quality and Transport, said: “By making sure we have the infrastructure in place for electric vehicles, we can encourage drivers to make the switch to more environmentally friendly forms of transport,?which helps improve air quality across the borough and delivers a huge range of health and wellbeing benefits.”
Some Islington residents think that the measures announced do not go far enough. David, an EV driver, said: “Charging points are very expensive, £55 for a full charge, and it takes two and a half hours. [Other charging points] take 9 or 10 hours.”
Another issue for EV drivers is the congestion charge. Previously, EV drivers received a 100% Cleaner Vehicle Discount, exempting them from the congestion charge. But this has recently changed.
“Before, I liked electric cars. There was no congestion charge before, but I’ve now been paying it since January. It’s almost £75 weekly,” David said. “I’m not happy. I’m going to sell this car because of the congestion charge.
Electric cars registered on Auto Pay receive a 25% discount on the congestion charge. The daily charge is £13.50 for electric cars, instead of £18, and £9 for electric vans, HGVs, and quadricycles [small four-wheeled vehicles] instead of £18.
According to the council, the new funding is needed to prevent more than 2,000 additional vehicles a day from driving during operating hours [7:00 – 18:00 on weekdays and 12:00 – 18:00 on weekends] in the Congestion Zone.
Sam is an MA Newspaper Journalism student, news blogger, and freelance writer who has previously written for Spiked.