A new partnership to convert lock-up garages in London to electric vehicle rapid charging hubs could enable more than 100,000 drivers to charge their vehicles every day.

The partnership aims to provide charging capacity for over 100,000 cars in London each day – 4% of the 2.66 million cars currently registered in London today

EV charging infrastructure specialist SSE Enterprise has teamed up with InfraTech Property Solutions (IPS), which manages hundreds of lock-up garage sites in the capital, to develop Digital Community Hubs (DCHs).

These combine 10-20 rapid charging bays to provide round-the-clock charging along with solar and battery technology to reduce the grid impact, and even an onsite coffee van for waiting drivers.

The first site could go live later this year at Heathrow Airport Terminal 4 – chosen for its prime position to serve local delivery and taxi EVs.

The EV hub infrastructure would then be rolled out across London and the Home Counties by SSE Enterprise at up to 1,000 IPS-managed sites.

With Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan having set a target of providing 50,000 charge points across London by 2025, the new partnership could potentially meet around 10% of this required capacity.

Kevin Welstead, SSE Enterprise EV sector director, said: “This project has the capability to provide the mass rollout of EV charging that London is crying out for as more and more consumers switch to EV. Space in the capital to build charging hubs is like gold dust, but thanks to the network of lock-up garages tucked away across the city managed by IPS, we can build a network that could charge a tenth of all EVs in London.

“If we’re serious about bringing cleaner air to the streets of London then we need this kind of innovative thinking to meet demand. It is certainly a project with huge potential for London.”