Motorists in one of London’s biggest boroughs are set to get a multi-million pound investment in on-street electric vehicle (EV) charging spaces.
Barnet will see the installation of over 500 charging points, designed to be flat-and-flush with the pavement, that will let residents without driveways charge their EVs.
Stonehaven-based Trojan Energy will deliver the £4.65m project, £3.5m of which was secured in UK Government grant funding, to boost the number of charging points in the borough.
Trojan Energy’s unique charging points will be located across 34 of Barnet’s streets, made operational in phases by November 2022 and March 2023.
Customers use a lance which they keep in their possession to connect their vehicle to the charging point at the roadside. These points are linked via underground cables to cabinets, located up to 100m away, which send power to 15 charging units at any one time.
Trojan Energy will also deploy its DEICER system within the project, allowing drivers to obtain real-time charging point availability updates via their mobile phone.
Ian Mackenzie, chief executive of Trojan Energy, said: “We know that people are four times more likely to own an electric vehicle if they have a driveway, but, by rolling out Trojan Energy’s on-street charging points, we are making owning an EV increasingly accessible to the millions of motorists that park on-street without cluttering our streets with permanent charging posts.
“This is Trojan Energy’s largest contract to date and it puts us firmly in a position to lead the widespread roll-out of clutter free on-street EV charging to urban areas - and it keeps us on track to deliver on our ambitious target to deploy several thousand Trojan Charging Points over the next two to three years.”
Barnet Council environment and climate change committee chair Alan Schneiderman added: “Our scheme to install hundreds more EV charging points is part of our wider sustainability programme to transform Barnet into a net zero borough.”
Trojan Energy’s workforce of more than 30 has tripled in size over the last year.
The business plans to increase the team to around 60 by the end of 2022 through the creation of new roles, including engineering positions, project managers and customer service leads. Some of these roles will be fulfilled by members of the local community in and around Barnet.
The company was launched in 2016 to create an EV charging system that offers an equal opportunity to all drivers to charge their vehicles near their home, without inconveniencing other pavement users.
Trojan Energy last year launched its technology on the streets of the London Boroughs of Brent and Camden. These charging points are experiencing high utilisation and good feedback from users.
All its hardware technology is manufactured in the UK, at sites including Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Aylesbury.
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