Liberty Charge, the joint venture created by Liberty Global and Zouk Capital to rollout on-street electric vehicle charging points in the UK, has announced the successful completion of its first UK installation in the London borough of Waltham Forest.

The project will see the joint venture install 20 charging points across 10 sites in the borough. This figure will increase to 50 sites as future locations are determined. The announcement follows a report from Policy Exchange in February 2021 which found that the UK needs to install five times as many EV charging points to meet its climate goals.

Waltham Forest is the first installation in a national programme being rolled out by Liberty Charge. More areas for deployment will be confirmed during the course of this year as Liberty Charge continues discussions with local authorities throughout the UK to maximise on-street electric vehicle charging opportunities for residents.

The joint venture, which was set up last May, leverages Liberty Global UK subsidiary, Virgin Media's network infrastructure, deployment capabilities and trusted relationships with local authorities. Zouk is the manager of the Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund (CIIF), the dedicated fund established by the UK Government in 2019 and backed by HM Treasury to help develop public charging infrastructure points for electric vehicles throughout the UK.

Neil Isaacson, CEO, Liberty Charge, comments: "Recent research has highlighted the need to do much more to meet the rising consumer demand for electric vehicles charging if the UK government's carbon neutral targets are to be met. There are many challenges on the road to net zero and at Liberty Charge we're doing everything we can to ensure that charging infrastructure is not a limiting factor. We look forward to partnering with other local authorities to give residents more opportunities to charge their electric vehicles on the street."

Cllr Clyde Loakes, Deputy Leader, Waltham Forest Council, added: "Waltham Forest is dedicated to enabling people to convert to EVs to reduce vehicle related emissions and promote more sustainable forms of transport. Working with Liberty Charge, which can tap into Virgin Media's infrastructure and capabilities, is a logical decision to maximise expertise, minimise disruption and help build a best-in-class on-street charging network."

The charging points will be operated by EV DOT, a publicly accessible electric vehicle charging network owned and operated by BMM Networks. The charge points provide access to a charging capacity of up to 22 kW and cost EV drivers 30p per kWh to charge.

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