London best in the world for EV, according to new analysis

Analysis from home rental company Spotahome has revealed that London is the best city in the world for electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure.

Spotahome used official data on EV charging points to rank each major global city out of ten, with London receiving the highest index score.

As of July 2018, the UK had 162,000 plug-in cars, with London councils set to deliver 2,630 charging points in the next financial year.

In spite of London’s investment into EV infrastructure, their analysis reveals that other UK cities are not faring as well. They believe this is due to a £400m Government plan to install charging points across the country being significantly delayed.

However, last week the EV industry received a boost when the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act passed through Parliament.

The AEV Act will give the Government new powers to ensure motorway services are upgraded with charging points and will allow mayors to request installations at large fuel retailers in their areas.

Manchester is currently ranked in 18^th place (1.76), Edinburgh in 31^st (1.1) and Leeds in 35^th place (0.88).

The cities which performed well after London were Amsterdam (9.63) and Rotterdam (8.73), coming in at second and third place.

Car manufacturing powerhouse Germany also has multiple entries on the list, with Berlin (8.24), Hamburg (7.2) and Munich (3.51) all making the top ten.

Surprisingly, Oslo ranks just 6^th despite Norway having more EV sales per capita than any other country in the world.

At the bottom of the rankings, major cities such as Cape Town, Cairo, Sao Paulo and Seoul scored 0.

Melissa Lyras, brand and communications manager at Spotahome said: ‘While it’s heartening to see strides being taken in major world cities to cater for the growing electric vehicle market, it’s evident there’s still a lot of work to do.

‘If more cities invest in EV infrastructure they will help to facilitate growth in the market, improve air quality and the ultimately, the health and wellbeing of the people living there. London is a great example of a city succeeding in those goals, alongside other European countries who dominate the top ten.’

Spotahome’s findings are below.