Liberty Charge – new charge point operator
Liberty Charge chose the public sector and local government event, Solace Summit, to launch as a Charge Point Operator (CPO), committed to tackling the chronic under-supply of easily accessible on-street charging in the UK.
With 40% of the UK’s urban residents having no access to off-street charging on a private driveway, Liberty Charge will provide fully-funded charging facilities on-street to help Councils meet a very clear public need and support their local sustainability and clean air targets.
Working in partnership with local authorities, Liberty Charge takes on the ownership and cost of running and maintaining the EV charging stations, as well as the supporting infrastructure on which they rely.
In collaboration with its delivery partner, Virgin Media O2, it will roll out an initial 500 electric vehicle charging sockets across five UK local authorities by the end of 2021. The initial roll out will include the London boroughs of Croydon, Hammersmith & Fulham and Wandsworth. It will also include West and North Northamptonshire Councils, to help address the significant deficit of on-street charging outside the capital.
Currently, there are approximately 5,700 on-street charge points across the UK, the majority of which are in London, with only 1,000 outside the capital. Liberty Charge will be focused on accelerating this roll out in a bid to help meet one of the Government’s net zero goals of installing more than 120,000 EV charge points by 2025. This will also help accelerate the UK’s transition from fossil fuel powered vehicles to electric vehicles, as the Government works to phase out the sale of combustion powered cars by 2030.
Neil Isaacson, CEO, Liberty Charge, says with the current roll-out rate, the Government’s target is a challenge: “Local authority budgets are already under pressure and they often lack the capital expenditure to undertake such an investment,” he says. “By providing a fully-funded, reliable and convenient on-street solution, we can help local authorities make this national target a reality.”
Neil says there are currently 11 million UK households with no driveway and no way of charging their vehicle off-street: “With our strategy, and the support of our delivery partner, we can plug a huge gap in the market,” he concludes.
The Solace Summit took place between October 11 – 15 as a hybrid event, part virtually and part in-person at the Bonus arena in Hull.
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