Context
Croydon is a borough in South London and home to over 380 thousand residents.
Croydon declared a Climate Emergency in 2019 and set a long-term target of 34% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2025, aiming to be carbon neutral by 2030.
Croydon’s Growth Zone aims to support better public transport, cycling and walking facilities. To compliment active transport initiatives, Croydon has also been working with car club operators to support residents who do not own a car, working to improve sustainable transport accessibility, as car clubs become electrified and not all residents have access to an electric vehicle (EV) of their own.
Croydon is also supporting cleaner technology by encouraging the adoption of EVs and deploying electric vehicle charge points. Croydon’s Air Quality Action Plan 2017-2022 highlights the need to continue with supporting the growth of car clubs, the future of making public car club bays electric, and growing the on-street charging network across the borough to help reduce carbon emissions and tackle the climate emergency.
Deployment, Maintenance and Future Proofing
Believ investigated the current demand and projected need for EV charging infrastructure by analysing evidence, data sets and key reports to evaluate and model the EV uptake to 2030. This was done in two coordinated stages: the utilisation of Believ’s geospatial and internal analysis – which includes, amongst other data points, housing data, resident demographics, traffic flows, present and future EV registrations – and through council insights, including resident requests.
Our analysis concluded that by 2023, there will be 14,868 EVs in Croydon. Calculating a standard ratio of one charging socket to 8 electric vehicles, the borough will need a total of 554 fast double socketed public charge points by 2023. By 2030, Croydon will need over 3300 charge points.
Our EVC Project Engineer, our delivery team and our delivery partners have deployed single phase dual-socket Alfen Eve Double Pro-line fast chargers across the borough. These units are equipped with two charging sockets to support dual charging. They have recently been redesigned, benefitting from new charging technology and the specific needs of EV drivers. All charge points meet IET Wiring Regulations and the IET Code of Practice for Electric Vehicle Charging Equipment.
Once the sites were installed, Believ introduced Croydon to the charging network back office to monitor utilisation of the charge points, which helps planning for the next batch of sites.
Additionally, to ensure that residents experience a reliable service when using each charge point,Believ includes proactive and reactive maintenance services.
Believ ensured that each charging site is designed to be capable of upgrading for future technological advances; for example, increasing the charging speed and power. Believ also ensured the Distribution Network Operator (‘DNO’) connections were large enough to accommodate additional charge point units when the demand inevitably increases.
Conclusion
Believ has deployed 86 fast on-street EV charging points across the borough, generating income for the council via a fee payment scheme for the use of active bays and providing a safe, unintrusive build of EV charging infrastructure through the collaboration with delivery partner Virgin Media O2 and the Distribution Network Operator (DNO).
Believ continues to operate and maintain the charging network in Croydon, helping the council encourage drivers to switch to electric vehicles and improve air quality.
