Waltham Forest hits major milestone in drive to switch to electric vehicles

The 1000th electric vehicle charging socket has been installed in Waltham Forest, in a major milestone in the Council’s drive to ensuring that owning an electric vehicle (EV) is as easy as possible.

Ubitricity have installed 518 of the charge points in Waltham Forest, with others installed by Believ and BP Pulse. The 1,000th charging socket will also be installed by Ubitricity.

This installation is a significant step on the way to the planned installation of 2,500 electric vehicle charging sockets across the borough by March 2026. 

Earlier this year, Waltham Forest also received funding to create 60 new accessible charging points, helping to remove one of the barriers for people with disabilities or physical impairments when it comes to electric vehicle adoption. 

The Council has electric vehicle targets for all controlled parking zones in Waltham Forest. It aims to: have at least two residential EV sockets per controlled parking zone; for 80 per cent of households to be within a 250 metre walk from a public, fast charging EV socket; for every town centre to have a public rapid charging point, and at least two rapid charging hubs.

Of the 1,000 charging sockets in Waltham Forest, four are rapid units, 433 are fast 22kW charging sockets, 62 are standard 7kW charging sockets and 518 are lamp column charging sockets. And according to recently published Department for Transport data, Waltham Forest now has the 12th highest number of EV sockets in the UK.

Cllr Clyde Loakes, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Climate and Air Quality, says:

“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.”

Stuart Wilson, UK Market Lead from Ubitricity says:

“As we celebrate the installation of Waltham Forest’s 1,000th electric vehicle charging socket, it’s a pivotal moment in our commitment to making EV ownership easier for those residents who can’t charge at home. Ubitricity, alongside partners like Believ and BP Pulse, has been instrumental in installing over 500 of these charging sockets. We are proud of what we’ve achieved with Waltham Forest, but this achievement is just the beginning. We plan to have rolled out over 1200 charging sockets across the borough by the end of 2025, not only making it easier for residents to charge their electric vehicles but also improving air quality—a win for everyone.”