A new electric vehicle infrastructure taskforce has been launched by London Mayor Sadiq Khan. The Freight Transport Association (FTA) is first in line to support the organisation, whose main interest is to improve EV charging infrastructure across the Greater London area.

The aim of the taskforce is to improve EV use to reduce transport carbon emissions in London, helping tackle the public health problems associated with pollution. However, “introduction of a resilient recharging network is key to the success of the project,” said FTA’s head of urban policy Natalie Chapman.

According to the FTA, the new charging network has to have capacity for rapid or overnight charging for fleets and must be able to charge large numbers of vehicles at the same time.

Likewise, project funding must be sought elsewhere rather than logistics businesses which are already having to invest in fleets of costly electric vehicles demands the FTA. “Grants and funding need to be made available to enable logistics operators to upgrade their vans to EVs and install the requisite charging points in their business locations,” said Chapman.