Abstract
We speak to the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan about his new electric vehicle initiative in London, climate emergencies and the ongoing health crisis. What can be done to ensure that the cities of the future have clean air and use sustainable energy?
Here in London we face a climate emergency, but also a health crisis and what we've launched today is the fruits of a year's worth of work from the electric vehicle task
force that began work with the best of the public sector and the best of the
private sector to remove the obstacles that are in the way for our transition
from petrol and diesel vehicles to electric vehicles and what we've launched today
is a delivery plan and how we get there.
Is Sadiq Khan, Major of London pushing for a car free London?
We want an electric vehicle revolution and there are many obstacles in the way of that revolution being a reality from the difficulty people have to getting permission from the fact that there is no coordination about where these charging points go, the lack of speed in the delivery of these are charging points.
So here in London we've made huge progress over the last 3 years, we've more rapid charging points than any major city in the world, but we will go even further. We will have rapid charging hubs across our city, the first one by the end of this year, 4 more over the course of the next year. We're in a coordination body to make sure we can coordinate across our city to make sure the charging points and the rapid charging points going the right way but also make sure we continue to have good partnership between the private sector and the public sector and this will lead to innovation but also opportunities. I want the innovators around the world to see London as a hotbed for them to pioneer what they're invested in but also for them to realise we're a city that doesn't just address the climate emergency, not just addresses the health crisis but also is a place we can have good growth.
I think one of things we've seen over the last 3 years is a change of mindset of Londoners. They understand the importance of addressing the climate emergency, they understand the importance of addressing the health crisis. We need people to realise that electric is a good option.
We're working with those in charge of the grid to make sure we invest in the grid being the best that it can be going forward. We've got to make sure people realise that we want more people walking, cycling, using public transport and when they need a vehicle it should be electric or hydrogen powered.
