Waltham Forest has reached a charging landmark after Ubitricity installed the 1,000th public charge point in the London borough.

Ubitricity has launched the 1,000th public charge point in Waltham Forest

Ubitricity, a wholly owned subsidiary of Shell, has worked with Waltham Forest Council since May 2019 to deploy the majority of the borough’s charge points.

Of the 1,000 charge points in Waltham Forest, 518 have now been installed by Ubitricity ahead of the charge point operator’s target for more than 700 charge points in the borough by 2025 and 1,200 by 2026.

According to recently published Department for Transport data, Waltham Forest now has the 12th highest number of EV sockets in the UK. The council is on track with its plans to deploy 2,500 charge points by March 2026.

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 and ensure that 80% of households are within a 250m walk of a public, fast charging EV socket. It’s also working to provide every town centre with a public rapid charging point and at least two rapid charging hubs.

Councillor Lucy Woakes, deputy leader and cabinet member for climate and air quality at Waltham Forest Council, said: “This milestone shows just how serious we are about enabling our residents to switch to electric vehicles. 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.”