Liberty Charge, the joint venture between Zouk Capital and Virgin Media owner Liberty Global, is rolling out 80 new electric vehicle (EV) chargepoints in Croydon.
The first 60 of these are to be installed by the end of this year, with many already available and in location. The remaining 20 are being targeted by February 2022, with the full 80 chargepoints spread across 32 different sites in the borough.
The rollout forms part of Liberty Charge’s goal of installing 600 EV charging sockets across London by the end of 2021. The joint venture uses Virgin Media’s infrastructure, deployment capabilities and relationships with local authorities to rollout on-street EV charging.
Announced in 2020, Liberty Charge completed its first installation in April 2021.
The joint venture has previously secured funding from the Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund (CIIF), which is managed by Zouk Capital. The CIIF consists of £200 million of private investment, which was then matched by government funding. It has also invested into Zest, char.gy and Instavolt.
“We’re collectively against the clock on our sustainability targets and need to get cleaner air into cities. This means getting charge points in the ground and providing the infrastructure to support a growing number of EV drivers and is exactly what local authorities up and down the country should be doing now,” said Neil Isaacson, CEO, Liberty Charge.
Liberty Charge follows the Virgin Media Park & Charge project, which aimed to deploy 1,200 charging sockets by early 2021 and was run by a consortium including Vattenfall, Connected Kerb, Cenex and Loughborough University.