Written evidence submitted by Simon Lloyd (AIR0001)
Pollution in London is being caused by the commercial vehicles used by business. Delivery’s that are important for the movement of goods, using diesel vehicles known to pollute. One of the other contributors to pollution are busses, taxis and coaches. If you spend any time near to Victoria Station, the air is often foul with pollution with another being Vauxhall Bridge Road. These are just two roads of many in London, that children and cyclists, must use every day.
For the adoption of fleet EV – eTaxi, eVan, eBus there needs to be a suitable charging network that fleet owners are confident their drivers can use on a break – 15-20mins. Until then fleet will not take EVs seriously until this happens. This does not include street charging suitable for regular EVs with <30Kw batterys.
It’s amazing we allow tourists to visit Parliament with the levels of pollution in Parliament sq., Trafalgar Sq., and Whitehall. So how is it possible a City like London does not have a proactive strategy for charging. The interesting thing is many major capital city does not have a strategy, so London is not alone, but we are not Mexico City but we have similar pollution problems.
This is an opportunity for London to lead the charge - plus related issues like, energy storage, connectivity and industry 4.0