London’s electric plans charge ahead
16 suppliers sign up to help public bodies buy greener vehicles
The Mayor's ambitions to create the electric capital of Europe took a step forward today with an initiative launched to make it easier for public sector organisations to buy electric vehicles at better value rates to make city fleets greener and cleaner.
The new electric vehicle procurement framework published by Transport for London, provides a list of 16 pre-approved suppliers and manufacturers which can provide the Greater London Authority group and other public sector bodies with electric vehicles more promptly by cutting out red tape and at competitive rates, helping to save money.
This follows the development of a separate procurement framework that is supplying charge points to TfL and its partners quickly and with better value for money helping to boost the delivery the Source London network. This is even set to be used by public organisations in Scotland and East Anglia that have recently registered an interest to buy charge points, showing how the capital is leading the march on electric delivery across the UK. Transport for London is also working with the Clinton Foundation to encourage private organisations to go electric and there are now 20 organisations actively working with them to accelerate uptake.
In May this year the Mayor, Boris Johnson, launched Source London, the capital's largest network of charge points. Source London will provide a 1300 network of publicly accessible points by 2013. The new network launched with 150 charge points, which is set to be 180-strong by the end of this month. Existing charge points installed before the launch of Source London are now being retrofitted to become part of the scheme. Use of Source London costs a £100 annual membership fee for limitless re-charges.
Kulveer Ranger, the Mayor of London's Environment Director, said: “The Mayor wants to make London the electric vehicle capital of Europe and Transport for London's vehicle framework will help achieve this by making it easier for public sector organisations to go electric. This will encourage greener, cleaner choices when the time comes to replace the vehicles being used to carry out important services for Londoners. By using this framework, public organisations can save money off a comprehensive range of electric vehicles and help with our drive to improve London's air quality.”
Public organisations have to comply with procurement regulations if the contract is over a set value. This is to ensure free and fair access to, and competition for, public sector contracts. As a result normally, all public contracts that are above threshold must be advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union. Transport for London is helping organisations avoid duplication and unnecessary red tape by creating these frameworks. For example, most public organisations may only need to buy a small number of electric vehicles, but collectively, London's public sector can save money and negotiate discounts, by working through the same procurement processes. The companies on the vehicle procurement are: Allied Vehicles, Ashwoods, AVID Vehicles, BMW, Citroen, Electric Motorcycles, EVF SpA, LeasePlan, Mercedes-Benz, Micro-Vett, Peugeot, Smith Electric Vehicles, Tata Motors, The Colt Car Company (Mitsubishi), Toyota and ZAP.
Nick Fairholme, Interim Director of Congestion Charging and Traffic Enforcement at TfL, said: "These procurement frameworks will play a key role in achieving the Mayor’s goal to accelerate the uptake of electric vehicles in London. Over the next few months Londoners will begin to see the fruit of this work as branded Source London charge points pop up in public locations across the Capital and increasing number of public and private organisations choosing electric."
