Contacting Lewisham Council to request electric vehicle charging points?

[anon30031319]

Meanwhile Tesla are taking care of business.

[anon5422159]

Ooh - is that in Lewisham?

[Miguel_d_Oliveira]

Very informative post and replies.
Anyone know what’s the deal if you want to charge at home and have no driveway (my case)?
If I park next to the house I would only need the cable to go across a narrow pavement before plugging onto the car.
Could a sleeping policeman (I believe thats the correct term) sort this? [safety stand point]

If we are going to eventually ditch ICE cars councils need to assist a lot more.
Info on Lewisham council website on electric vehicles is pretty pathetic
Many thanks in advance

[Andy]

@Miguel_d_Oliveira

Info on Lewisham council website on electric vehicles is pretty pathetic

I don’t think we can expect anything innovative or any financial investment from the council. They likely don’t have the headcount to run a new program of street charging and can not justify capital expenditure. They have continued to outsource anything involving assets or services on-street when possible, e.g. street lighting, refuse collection, bike storage.

The only existing charging near Forest Hill seems to have a hire car tie-in which is why 3/4 of the chargers are used by an electric car hire company.

If we want an on street charging solution then I expect it will have to be installed, managed and run by a third-party entity.

[anon86223367]

With ULEZ expansion fast approaching the council need to act fast. Not sure what funds they have available though.

[Miguel_d_Oliveira]

thank you

[Cpw1978]

This was the response I got from Lewisham council when I wrote to them last year. I wasn’t satisfied and asked our local MP ATO write to the mayors office. I got a similarly committed to the concept but not about doing anything about it response and gave up and bought a petrol car sadly.

I personally think this will be the biggest blocker to uptake in London above anything else and it could be an easy fix.

Thank you for your email.

We do not plan to install charging points on residential roads for a number of reasons. Firstly
residents should not trail charging cables across the public footway as this would present a trip
hazard. We do not have the resources to provide channels under the footway for residents
wishing to charge vehicles. In addition there may be underground services under the footway
that would make placing charging points on the footway problematic. Finally our policies are to
try to reduce street clutter to improve the residential environment and to minimise hazards for
vulnerable users.

I’m afraid we would not permit residents to install their own electric vehicle charging points on
the public highway. There would be a range of potential problems with this ranging from the
safety of the devices, responsibility for their maintenance, the electrical connections, potential
damage to other services lying beneath the footway, liability in the event of an accident and
how to restrict usage.

We do not permit any contractor other than the Council’s own highway maintenance contractor
to work on the public highway.

The Council does not own or maintain the Electric Vehicle Charge Points (EVCPs) on the
highway and car parks. In the same way as BT and other utilities companies use the highway,
EVCPs are operated from the public highway by private companies. The Council is signed up to
the Source London scheme. We are developing a list of sites where we are looking to provide
charging points. In developing the list we look to see where Source London users are registered
and where charging points might be beneficial. The Source London web site will give details of
your nearest charging point.

The Council is very keen to encourage the expansion of the EVCP network and to support the
take up of electric vehicles, and we are currently developing a new EV strategy which will
include consideration of alternatives to sit alongside the Source London scheme.

I hope this is helpful.

[Cpw1978]

Funds have been made available by the DFT but they have opted to outsource via a private company who will make decisions based upon commercial aspects above anything else. It’s a well trodden model that doesn’t work

[anon5422159]

@Cpw1978 thanks for sharing the above information. It’s a shame the council hasn’t made more progress on this, although I see there are four charging points at Pearcefield Avenue.

Funds have been made available by the DFT but they have opted to outsource via a private company

Are there experts in EV charging infrastructure within the council who would be able to do the work more quickly and cheaply?

[Andy]

Meanwhile in Wandsworth:

Councillors have unanimously agreed a radical programme to install more than 700 new charging points on lampposts.

[Miguel_d_Oliveira]

Lewisham council: Always on the forefront of inadequacy and laziness.
That standard reply letter beggars belief.
It’s as if electric vehicles were some fantasy that “will never catch on”

With the wasted electricity on lamp posts that stay on all day - despite frequent reporting - they could run a fleet of electric buses.

[Londondrz]

Playing devils advocate here but would you expect Lewisham Council to put a petrol station on your road just because you bought a car?

[fourstar]

If there was an increasingly pressing London-wide strategy to encourage people to use diesel cars then yes they should help with that infrastructure

[Meadow]

With the government’s policy of moving to electric cars on the future, Lewisham should be considering charging points. I drive from Merton to Honor Oak for work and am seriously considering an electric or plug in hybrid car. Merton Council is dreadful in many respects but they are future proofing regarding charging points.

[Andy]

would you expect Lewisham Council to put a petrol station on your road just because you bought a car?

Lewisham are not putting anything anywhere. They appear to be choosing where to allow a third party to provide electric charging infrastructure on public property.

Also, it doesn’t equate to a petrol station, but more like a small illuminates street sign.

[Andy]

If you look at a public charging map, Lewisham is a desert in a forest. The wealthier neighbouring boroughs have far more charging points and will benefit from increased electric vehicle use.

Four charging points in a supermarket car park, which are generally blocked by cars of a private electric car rental company, is a pathetic offering.

[Jojo]

I work for another local authority nearby and we have started putting them on residential streets in lamp posts. I havent seen them in lewisham yet.

I was considering getting a plug in hybrid but being unable to charge it was partly a turn off. Well that and it was too expensive! Maybe next time though.