Context
The London Borough of Ealing is home to over 360,000 residents and are considered leaders in deploying Electric Vehicle (EV) infrastructure.
As of March 2024, Ealing Council deployed over 650 on-street charge points and, by continuing to increase the number of charge points, they are influencing behaviour change by making it as easy as possible for residents to transition to an EV.
More and more Ealing residents are moving to EVs – last June, there were over 8000 plug-in EVs registered, approximately twice as many than in September 2021.
The need for EV charging infrastructure
Looking at data on housing types, car registration and demographics, the council’s planning team estimate that they need approximately 3,200 fast (7-22 kW) on-street charge points by the end of 2030, to support residents, businesses and visitors. To work towards this, they have set an ambitious target to install 2,000 EV charge points by 2026.
Smart planning
Believ are focused on ensuring that the right number of charge points, of the right speed and installed in the right locations. The first stage in the site selection modelling involved forecasting electric vehicle uptake in different areas across the Borough. This was done with our innovative Geographical Information System (GIS) tool that enabled us to identify the areas with the highest need for EV charging infrastructure. We assess the suitability of each location by reviewing the socio-demographic characteristics, housing type, forecast of electric vehicle uptake, grid constraints and infrastructure costs within each area.
Using the GIS tool, we proceeded to categorise the areas based on the present demand for EV infrastructure with projections of future demand, so that our team could deliver bespoke, future proof and scalable EV charging solutions made to suit the local community.
Outcome and future deployment
Believ worked with the local authority to install over 300 charge point sockets and expect to install over 100 more, including some rapid charge points to provide a faster charging option for residents, businesses and visitors.
Believ will continue to work with Ealing to monitor the utilisation of the existing charge points and to strengthen the network with new charge point installations, based on growing demand.
