The first installation has already opened in West Ella Road. These on-street charging points will improve access for those without private driveways or access to a charge point at their home. Zest and Uber are funding the project. Zest will also provide the long-term operation of the service and maintenance of the charge points, meaning no resource overheads for the Council.
Brent is committed to move away from petrol and diesel vehicles. The Council’s strategy is to support the roll out of new electric charging infrastructure and help to ensure that the transition is accessible and affordable for residents and businesses. London is Uber’s top city for EVs worldwide, with well over 10,000 electric vehicles on the platform driving more than 20% of trip miles in the capital.
“In order to reach our target of becoming carbon neutral by 2030, we have to make it as easy as possible for residents to pick transport that is good for the environment – this does just that,” said councillor Krupa Sheth, cabinet member for Environment, Infrastructure, and Climate Action, at Brent Council. “We are currently 4th in London by the number of charging points and after this project we will have almost 1,000 electric charging points across Brent.”
Zest is backed by the government-sponsored Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund(CIIF), a public-private fund whose mission is to accelerate the provision of public access EV infrastructure through projects like this.