Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillors Kuldeep Lakhmana, Colleen Sullivan and Steve Tuckwell with Councillors Tony Eginton, Becky Haggar and John Morgan substituting.

Councillor John Morgan declared a non-pecuniary interest in agenda item 5 as he was in the process of purchasing an electric vehicle.

It was highlighted that, in the attendance list for the 19 October 2021 meeting, Councillor Stuart Mathers was mistakenly listed as present, and Councillor Kuldeep Lakhmana was mistakenly omitted from the list.

RESOLVED: That, subject to the aforementioned amendments to the attendance list, the minutes of the meeting dated 19 October 2021 be agreed as an accurate record.

It was confirmed that all items were marked Part 1 and would be considered in public.

The Chairman briefly introduced the item highlighting that it was the third witness session of the Committee’s review into Electric Vehicles (EVs), EV infrastructure and future policy development for the Borough. The Committee began by welcoming both Dr Henrik Thiele, Managing Director, and Brian Renwick, UK Operations, of Qwello GmbH to the meeting. By way of introduction, it was highlighted that Qwello were an EV charge point provider and operator, operating in Europe, and looking to enter the emerging UK market. A presentation was delivered and some key points were highlighted, included:

• Demand for EV charging infrastructure was due to increase exponentially over the coming years in Hillingdon as the number of new EVs on the road grew. At the current rate of installation in the Borough, supply would soon fall short of demand;

• Some EV charge point providers required any user of their charge points to either sign up to a membership or create an account before using one of their charge points. This brought about issues around equitable use and it was highlighted that Qwello’s charge points did not require a specific account (although the option to sign up to one was available) and could be used by anyone with a contactless payment card;

• It was noted that many EV charge point providers also operated an app to help facilitate the user experience, although it was not always necessary to download the apps in order to utilise the charge points. Qwello had developed a similar app with voice control allowing users to book a specific charge point through their phone whilst driving;

• Pavement installed charge points were designed to take up only a small amount of space on the pavement to ensure adequate space was left for wheelchair users and pushchairs. The importance of a clear indicator on top of each charge point was also emphasised to ensure drivers could easily see whether a charge point was in use, had been reserved, or was available to use;

• It was emphasised that, under Qwello’s business model, the installation and maintenance of charge points was, to an extent, covered by the charge point provider;

• 350kW charging was currently the fastest charging speeds available, this was understood to be roughly equivalent to the energy consumption of a 300-bed hospital. These types of chargers were extremely expensive and they were also deemed to have the potential to greatly burden the local electricity grid;

• Regularly using faster charging speeds led to eventual deterioration and reduced capacity of the lithium-ion batteries used to power the majority of common EVs;

In terms of charging speeds, it was highlighted that people who were generally not affiliated with the EV industry had a tendency to stress an importance on the availability of rapid and ultra-rapid chargers. This was attributed to the general public mostly looking to recreate the experience of filling up their Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicle at a petrol station, which would usually take 5 minutes. Rapid chargers were considered those with a power of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

The Committee noted the items listed on the Forward Plan. The Democratic Services Officer informed Members that, since the publication of the meeting agenda, a new Forward Plan had been published with two additional item listed under the Public Safety and Transport portfolio; these were the Contract for the Council’s Parking Enforcement Service to be considered at the January 2022 Cabinet meeting, and the TfL Local Implementation Plan – Annual Spending Submission to be considered at the September 2022 Cabinet meeting.

RESOLVED That the Committee noted the Forward Plan.

The Committee were minded to include a progress update on the work programme with regard to the implementation of the new working practices within the Anti-Social Behaviour Service that were explained at the Committee’s previous meeting. Within the requested progress update, the Committee also sought to have some information on the emergence of e-scooters and any common issues that may have arose.

RESOLVED That the Select Committee noted the items listed on the work programme and requested a progress update on the new working practices within the Anti-Social Behaviour Service.