Siemens is one of eight organisations to be awarded a place on a London-wide framework contract hosted by TfL, London Councils and Greater London Authority to provide innovative on street electric vehicle charging solutions to the capital’s busy streets, and one of four suppliers using the electricity from street lights.
Siemens has partnered with ubitricity to deliver Smart City electric vehicle charging points, which use mobile electricity metering technology. It is unique as it uses the existing street light infrastructure and shared electricity supply, thereby reducing the cost of deployment and disruption to residents.
It takes under an hour to convert a street lamp – a fraction of the time to install a separate charging station. Most Londoners do not have access to off-street parking, but this technology enables residents to charge their cars easily and conveniently in the streets around their homes. Drivers would park next to the street lamp and ideally connect to it using a special cable. This cable is fitted with a meter, which identifies the charging point and turns on the power. The data is sent digitally to a mobile power supplier who would bill for the electricity consumed. For customers using a standard cable, charging will be authorised through a mobile site.
Ubitricity retrofitted the first London lamppost with charge points in 2016, and now has around 300 charging points across London. London has 3,980 public charge points and around 13,000 electric vehicles.
The procurement framework is an initiative of London’s Go Ultra Low City Scheme, a partnership project between London Councils, Greater London Authority and Transport for London, and funded by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles. This project is helping London boroughs to fulfill their charge point ambitions and deliver 1,150 charge points by the end of 2020.
Chris Beadsworth, Director, Siemens Energy Management, said: “Our mission is to help improve the quality of everyday life for millions of people around the globe. Improving air quality through decarbonisation of transport is a vital element of this, but to make it a reality, we need to have enough charging points in the right places and available at the right time.
“By using existing infrastructure, it will provide a quality, convenient and simple charging point to help accelerate the increase in privately owned electric vehicles. Our aim is that charging your car should be as simple as charging your phone.
“Working together with our partners we make a cleaner more modern energy network a reality whilst delivering benefits for UK consumers without compromise.”
Knut Hechtfischer – Founder, ubitricity, said: “ubitricity’s mission here in London is to make electric vehicle charging what we refer to as ubiquitous, making charging accessible by every Londoner, everywhere in London.
“A significant proportion of residents park their vehicles on-street, to make the change over to electric they need to be ensured of convenient, reliable and affordable charging, the same benefits that those with off-street parking enjoy.
“By working with Siemens to deliver our technology this is now becoming a reality for all Londoners. If we want to improve the air quality in London, electric vehicle charging must be available to all, whether you happen to park on-street or off-street.”
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Source and photo credits: Siemens
