Islington streets get new tranche of charge points in bid to clean up air and help residents go electric

A new tranche of electric chargers have been installed in lamp-posts in Islington after requests from residents.

Following a successful trial last year, 60 charging units have been installed, making it the first large-scale roll out of the lamp-post chargers in the borough.

Liverpool Road, which runs parallel to the famous Upper Street, and contains a mixture of residential housing and small businesses, now has 18 chargers installed. It is hoped that the convenience of the charging points, which save space and cost less money because they are embedded in existing infrastructure, will encourage more Londoners to switch to electric cars.

Councillor Claudia Webbe, Islington's executive member for environment and transport, said: “We are determined to tackle the dangers of air pollution, it’s a matter of life or death. We will do everything in our powers to find the right solutions for Islington and London as a whole; using the latest technology these innovative new electric charge points using the borough’s existing lamp-posts are a key part of our vision for a greener, cleaner, safer borough.

“Cleaning up the air in Islington is a priority for the council and residents I speak to every day, to achieve this we must move away from toxic polluting vehicles and make it practical for people to recharge an electric vehicle if they lack off-street parking."

The locations for the new lamp-post charging points are:

• Barnsbury Road

• Clephane Road

• Cross Street

• Hazellville Road

• Lever Street

• Liverpool Road

• Nightingale Road

• Packington Street

• Tufnell Park

The project is part funded through a grant from the Go Ultra Low Cities Scheme which is a joint initiative between London Councils, Transport for London and the Greater London Authority. Islington council says it intends to roll out more of these charging points each year to keep pace with the growing number of electric vehicles. The chargers are being maintained by Siemens and Ubitricity.

More information on how to use the charging points and free residents permits available for zero emission electric vehicles can be found at: www.islington.gov.uk/roads/electric-vehicles