ubitricity has announced that it has installed the 1,000th public EV charge point in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The installation marks a significant achievement in the Council’s ambitious programme to be one of the leading local authorities in London for EV charging, with a commitment to install 2,500 public charge points across the borough by March 2026.
Of the 1,000 charge points in Waltham Forest, 518 have now been installed by ubitricity, with others from Believ and bp pulse.
Since May 2019, ubitricity, a wholly owned subsidiary of Shell, has worked closely with Waltham Forest Council to deploy the majority of the borough’s charge points, with more than 500 already installed and with plans to have installed over 700 by the end of 2024.
This has been achieved via a mix of GULCS funding and direct award contracts to deploy innovative lamppost-based charge points in existing street furniture. According to recently published Department for Transport data, Waltham Forest now has the 12th highest number of EV sockets in the UK.
Waltham Forest Council has set targets for EV charging provision in controlled parking zones across the Borough, aiming to:
- Offer at least two residential EV sockets per controlled parking zone.
- Ensure that 80% of households are within a 250-meter walk of a public, fast charging EV socket.
- Provide every town centre with a public rapid charging point and at least two rapid charging hubs.
“This milestone shows just how serious we are about enabling our residents to switch to electric vehicles," said Cllr Lucy Woakes, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Climate and Air Quality at Waltham Forest Council.
"Air quality is a serious concern across London, but in Waltham Forest, the harmful pollutants in our air have been decreasing year-on-year since measurements began.
"Enabling people to make the switch to an electric vehicle is a major part of helping to clean up our air and is good for the environment locally and nationally – reducing carbon emissions and improving air quality is in everyone’s interests.”
Thanks to a live data partnership between Zapmap and ubitricity, users of the Zapmap app and web map are able to access the live status and availability of ubitricity charge points across the UK.
“As we celebrate the installation of Waltham Forest’s 1,000th electric vehicle charging socket, it’s a pivotal moment in our commitment to making EV ownership easier for those residents who can’t charge at home," said Stuart Wilson, Market Unit Lead UK at ubitricity.
"ubitricity, alongside partners such as Believ and BP Pulse, has been instrumental in installing over 500 of these charging sockets. We are proud of what we’ve achieved with Waltham Forest, but this achievement is just the beginning.
"We plan to have rolled out over 1200 charging sockets across the borough by the end of 2025, not only making it easier for residents to charge their electric vehicles but also improving air quality—a win for everyone.”
