The start point for the best source of fleet information |
Source London to charge for EV recharging
Date: 03 October 2016 | Author: Daniel Puddicombe
Bluepoint London, which owns and operates the Source London network of electric charging points, has announced it will introduce a £4 monthly membership fee for new members in order to use new units.
The company, a subsidiary of French energy giant Bollore, said it would install 400 new points by the end of the year in the capital, saying that 200 of these points have already been deployed in various boroughs.
Bluepoint London also announced it has agreements with Transport for London - which sold the network for £1m in 2014 - and 16 of the 33 boroughs to maintain, operate and add EV charging points.
Existing Source London members will continue to have access to the network until the end of the year. Bluepoint has also introduced a pay-as-you-go rate of 3.6ppm, based on a 20-minute long charge time.
"In just over two years we made significant progress to improve the state of the network, remove barriers to facilitate charging and provide easier access to points with more on-street locations in London than ever before," said Christophe Arnaud, Bluepoint London managing director. "In the past, EV users found it hard to locate functioning charge points and had to go to charge their vehicle in car parks where the actual cost of charging and parking escalated rapidly."
"In addition to the £30m we already invested in Source London, our determination to support EV uptake is also reflected in our competitive pay-as-you-go fee structure and new booking app helping users secure their charging location of choice," he added. "We will continue to work closely with London boroughs and the mayor's office to add more charge points across London and will maintain a transparent and fair fee structure for all EV users."
Earlier this year, several London-based electric vehicle car clubs rounded on Bollore following the French electric infrastructure and EV group's decision to launch its own car club, which rivals saw as conflicting their interests.
Zipcar and DriveNow, the latter of which operates London's largest fleet of electric vehicles, were two of the car-sharing firms that expressed concerns about Bollore launching its own service called BlueCity.
Rivals claimed the French company could gain an unfair advantage as it operates both a charging point network and car club, however Arnaud told BusinessCar that "BlueCity is a different company from Source London and they will have to pay the same amount of fees as the competition."
Recently, Ecotricity announced it would charge £6 for half-hour charges at the company's network of motorway rapid chargers, a move that many in the industry condemned.
