Responding to the PM’s new commitments on electric vehicle charging points in new developments, Nicolas Bosetti, Head of Data and Insight at Centre for London said:

“If car parking spaces have to be built, then making sure that electric vehicles can charge while they park makes sense. But electric vehicles won’t solve our congestion problem: an EV traffic jam is still a traffic jam.

“We should avoid building car parking spaces in new developments where possible and instead improve the availability of bus, tube and rail options, as well as access to bike and scooter hire.

“Where car parks are absolutely necessary, they should be designed so that they can be used for other purposes, once improvements to the wider transport network have been made.”

Notes to Editors 

• In February 2020, Centre for London published Building for a New Urban Mobility which examined how technological shifts are reshaping urban mobility and creating opportunities for non-car-dependent lifestyles.