Electric vehicles in London

The Committee's report - Charging Ahead - finds progress has been made since 2009, when the Mayor committed to making London the electric car capital of Europe.

However, he faces a formidable challenge ahead to achieve his targets. For example:

• There are 2,313 electric vehicles currently in London - only two percent of the way towards his goal of 100,000
• There are around 400 charge points in the capital compared to his recent target of 1300 by next year and original target of 25,000 by 2015
• There are fewer than 50 electric vehicles in the Greater London Authority fleet compared to the Mayor’s aim of 1000 by 2015

The report warns that the Mayor’s current electric vehicles plan will deliver environmental benefits too slowly and calls on him to publish an updated version, clarify his targets and set out timescales for implementing the charging network. 

Watch a short video about the report:

Our recommendations:

As well as asking the Mayor to update his electric vehicles delivery plan, the report calls on him to:

• Focus more on vehicles such as taxis, light goods vehicles and buses to make a significant impact on air quality and lower CO₂ emissions over the short to medium term
• Improve on current numbers of electric vehicles in the GLA fleet
• Commission research on the full carbon footprint of electric vehicles
• Work with energy suppliers on the potential for public charging points to use renewable energy.
• Develop a communications strategy with the motor industry to increase public awareness and knowledge about electric vehicles and publish real time data on charging points.

Read the report and the evidence we received: