Developing an Electric Vehicle Strategy for Sutton town centre, London

The London Borough of Sutton commissioned Steer to develop an Electric Vehicle (EV) Strategy for Sutton Town Centre. The objective of the study was to recommend the location and type of electric vehicle charging infrastructure within the study area with particular focus on the application of the Ultra-Low Emission Vehicle (ULEV) policy and electric vehicle charging infrastructure suitable for user needs.

How we helped

Steer developed the strategy based on Sutton’s ULEV policy, Masterplan and Liveable Neighbourhoods bid. We considered factors such as:

• Underlying and potential demand for EV charging;
• Location of existing parking and infrastructure;
• Resident’s access to off-street parking;
• Impact upon scarce kerb-space; and
• Suitability of existing lamp columns (e.g. lamp column characteristics, positioning, parking restrictions, power supply etc).

To establish the demand for charging infrastructure we have conducted relative demand analysis across the borough level.

This analysis was compiled in an ArGIS based tool and was used to determine the proposed siting of different types of EVCPs including on-street (slow/fast/lamppost), off-street (car parks/ car club bays) and rapid charging hubs. The tool we developed also enables Sutton to plan future EV infrastructure provision across the borough.

Successes and outcomes

Our study included engagement with stakeholders considered to be influential on the acceptance of the project outputs. Our stakeholder engagement included presenting our analysis and recommendations and gaining feedback based on commercial experience and local knowledge. We obtained a buy-in on our methodology from several stakeholders, including the local council members, charge point manufactures and operators, car clubs, resident association, and London Councils.

To conclude the project, we identified several implementation routes for funding charging infrastructure including OLEV On-street Residential Chargepoint Scheme, OLEV Workplace Charging Scheme, Go Ultra Low City Scheme and Ultra-Low Emission Taxi Infrastructure Scheme.