Contacting Lewisham Council to request electric vehicle charging points?

I’ve posted the below in the SE4 Facebook group and am hoping to cast the net a bit wider!

I’m thinking about contacting Lewisham Council in regards to onstreet electric car charging points. There are limited points in my area (Crofton Park) and there is no option to charge cars at home. The nearest to me seem to be in Catford or Telegraph Hill.

I see that there are grants available (75% of the cost by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles) for local authorities to install charging points and that take up has been poor by local authorities, thus there is central funding available which it would be great to tap into.

Part of the application process for the Local Authority is for them to demonstrate demand from local residents.

I’m hoping to get a feel from anyone out there who (a) already has an electric or plug in hybrid car (b) is considering getting one and might be interested in helping me to demonstrate demand. If there is enough potential interest then I’ll work out how is best to demonstrate demand for these charging points and I’ll contact the council.

Ideally I’d like a charging point on Crofton Park, but even Honor Oak or Ladywell would be great.

I don’t want this to turn into a debate about the merits of electric / hybrid cars (I am a chartered engineer and am fully aware of the benefits / drawbacks / environmental considerations ), but hope there are others that might be interested in helping out.

Related topic: Practicality of electric cars in SE23?

We are looking at getting a plug in at some point in next couple of years but put off at moment by lack of available charging spots. Count me in. We are Forest Hill - Woolstone road. Thanks.

Nice one.

Not SE23 (we are SE3), but still Lewisham so hopefully this helps:

Contact the Lewisham Council lead for Transport, Counsellor Alan Smith: cllr_alan.smith@lewisham.gov.uk
He will probably advise you lobby Source London for a charge point.

We are actively wanting an EV right now, but cannot charge it anywhere.

This is without a doubt going to be one of the biggest hurdles to overcome as the push for EV’s continues.
Would be interesting to see new developments maybe putting some in during the building, or at least setting up the infrastructure to make retro fitting simple.

I think we are a long way off seeing a mainstream push by local authorities for these, even with the mayor constantly telling us we need to clean up our act.

Savacentre at Bell Green has charge points (two I think).

Interestingly they are adjacent to the Timpson’s portacabin and NOT at the garage ie at the far left corner of the main building as you look at it.

I have no idea how a customer might pay for the charge.

The charging points are free. There are a couple in the Sainsburys car park in Forest Hill as well

Not sure what the ‘garage’ you refer to is. Given that charging takes some time, it makes sense to have the points in the main car park so people can use them while shopping.

Should have said petrol station (next to Southend Lane exit).

Agree entirely on it makes good sense to have them located where they are - was attempting to make sure people did not search the petrol station area.

It’s interesting that you associated charging points with refuelling. But there’s no logical reason for them to be together, especially as electric charging takes a long time and I don’t think owners of electric vehicles would look in or near the petrol station. Charging points are a place where you hook up the car then leave it while you do something else.

I don’t - and perhaps wrongly thought others might make the association.

I am not a plug-in EV user.

My observations were intended to be helpful, if a little casual.

As a Scot I am glad the service is free - i must let the relatives know.

And I could be wrong in assuming people wouldn’t look near the petrol station. We need a charge point user to settle the debate.

We have had to visit Poole frequently in the last year or so and we have observed this arrangement.

Seems entirely practical too.

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Acknowledgement to Google.

Is this the form of charge point that we need to see proliferate on London streets ?

Why should EV owners get to recharge their vehicles for free?

Well that is up to the people offering the service - If Sainsbury’s want to offer it for free then good luck to them if it gets footfall. I am not sure that local authorities should be offering free charging but natch they can always justify it by using the resultant reduction in local pollution I guess.

For electric cars to go really mainstream then we must be able to charge them at home but most homes are not suitable - I would have to have a cable draped across the pavement.

Being entirely sympathetic to your point :

I made a quick search for charger points including one that might be built into a sub-surface waterproof box. Did not even get that far - was appalled to find that outlets were in the range of 400-800 GBP.

Going mainstream is going to require someone to design and manufacture secure outlets that are priced at commodity levels.

It must be of significant worry to anyone that a pedestrian may trip over any draped cable and attempt to make a civil case out of it.

Have we identified a niche in a market ?

Yeah I was envisaging some sort of pop up box near the kerb, but very difficult as then it wouldn’t technically be on my property. Certainly a market here somewhere.
Unless the tech gets to the point whereby you can charge in a matter of minutes from a standard cable there is going to be an issue for mainstream use.
I still think hydrogen fuel cells could have a future

Good point. For some reason I hadn’t thought that it may the retailer offering the charging point.

That has been achieved (although I don’t know if from a standard cable) and is in development for commercial application. So you will be able to recharge in about the same time it would take to fill you tank with petrol.

As regards cost of charging pods - a friend recently bought an electric car and installation of the home kit was included in the price. Unfortunately, she had to upgrade her home electrics at her own cost to meet the required spec.

Can you advise if this was a wall mounted or internal item mounted inside a garage for example ? Sorry to hear about your friends additional expense.

I don’t know the details but definitely not a garage. She lives in a typical East Dulwich Victorian terrace.

Meanwhile Tesla are taking care of business.

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Ooh - is that in Lewisham?

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

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.

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

thank you

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.

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

@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.

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

Meanwhile in Wandsworth:

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.