People who insist that cruising the streets of London should be done in an electric vehicle like the G-Wiz (pictured) can't really complain that the city isn't supporting them them with ways to power their rides (see also here and here). The latest addition to the EV charging infrastructure in London will be in the southern and western parts of the city - in the buroughs of Wandsworth, Richmond Upon Thames, Sutton and Hammersmith & Fulham - and is made up of nine new charging stations. The devices go online tomorrow and will be open to unlimited used for anyone willing to drop a £100 annual fee. The exact locations of the charging stations is listed here. The chargers, called Elektrobays (others are known as Juice Points), are a joint project of SWELTRAC, Transport for London, the Energy Saving Trust, EDF Energy and Elektromotive. Thanks to Adam V.

[Source: Smart Planet]

The battle over a proposed £25 Congestion Charge increase that would have been socked to big, dirty vehicles entering London is over. Porsche was the lead opponent of this fee increase, and announced the win on its Judicial Review website. I guess Porsche's huge PR campaign worked. Back when Ken Livingstone, who came up with the £25 congestion charge proposal, was still Mayor of London, the city announced that the majority was in favor of it. Porsche had other data.

The new mayor, Boris Johnson, was never in favor of the new C-Charge, so it's not a huge surprise that it's been scraped. He said he hopes the city will now institute a 'fairer and more effective' Congestion Charge. The agency responsible for the Congestion Charge, Transport for London, will now need to pay Porsche's legal bills. Porsche has said it will donate the money to Skidz, an anti-crime charity. h/t to TheRookie.

[Source: Porsche, What Car?, Times Online]

London is one of the most noticeable battlegrounds in the fight for cleaner transportation. Headlined by the ongoing battle between Porsche and mayor Ken Livingstone, the fight also includes scuffles over motorcycles in bus lanes and new bicycle lanes. So, into this tempest, why not drop the oh-so-uncontroversial issue of hydrogen?

That's just whats happening thanks to a new agreement signed by Air Products and Transport for London. Air Products will build a hydrogen fueling station in central London that will supply hydrogen for a fleet of buses that will be in operation by 2010. The American company ISE will deliver ten hydrogen buses to TfL: five that use fuel cells and five that burn hydrogen in internal combustion engines.

[Source: Air Products via Domestic Fuel]

Danny (of Danny's Contentment) is just the messenger here, so don't go hounding him if you're angry about the bad news that Transport for London announced today. While some automakers will probably be pleased with the change, electric car proponents like Danny see this as a potential nail in the EV coffin.

Here's the deal:

The updated rules don't give electric cars special status with regards to the London congestion charge. Instead, these vehicles are grouped into a low-CO₂ vehicle category with all cars that "Produce less than 120g/km CO2 and meet the Euro 4 standard for air pollution emissions OR Produce no more than 120g/km of CO2, and appear on the PowerShift register." All of these cars will be exempt from the charges (rates vary between £8 and £25, depending on vehicle size and CO₂ emissions).

Transport for London said that the goal of the Greater London (Central Zone) Congestion Charging is to:

• Encourage drivers within the charging zone to travel in vehicles which produce lower levels of carbon dioxide (CO2)
• Discourage the use of vehicles with high CO2 emissions

and

• The primary aim of Congestion Charging remains to tackle congestion and encourage drivers to shift from private vehicles to public transport, walking and cycling.

While that last bullet point is certainly noble, I share Danny's concern that grouping low-CO₂ cars with EVs removes one great benefit for drivers in London who were considering getting an all-electric vehicle. We'll keep watching and see how this affects EV and low-CO₂ vehicle sales in the UK. Full details of the rule changes are here.

Related:

• Go with Danny on a quick test drive of the Kewet Buddy in the UK

[Source: Transport for London]