Two-thirds of electric car charging points in Kingston were used for less than a minute a day last winter.

Only seven of the 21 charging points in the borough saw enough use to be included in recent statistics.

Most-used were plugs in St James’ Road, at Currie Motors by the Coombe Lane flyover, and at Asda in Kingston.

Drivers in St Mark’s Hill, Surbiton, plugged in for an average of 34 minutes a day between September 1 and December 31, last year.

Liberal Democrat London Assembly member Stephen Knight said if taxis and buses were converted to electric, creating demand for plugs, consumers would follow.

He said: “What the Mayor [of London, Boris Johnson] ought to be doing, is convert the fleets he has most control over. We can’t just put in the charging points and hope for the best.

“The biggest thing the public could do to clear up air pollution is not to buy diesel cars.”

The charging points were installed from 2011 as part of the Mayor’s Source London scheme.

John Mason, Transport for London director responsible for Source London, said: “We’re putting in the infrastructure now so motorists know there is somewhere convenient to recharge their vehicle and ensure there is capacity as electric vehicle use becomes more common.”

Councillor Simon James, lead member for sustainability, said the council was “trying to do what [it] can to make sure there are enough electric charging points around the borough”.

And he said the mayoral limousine – rented by the council – could be an electric car in future. He said: “It would depend on the lease situation.”

To see a map of charging points in Kingston, visit sourcelondon.net According to Mr Johnson, the network is intended to “rapidly accelerate the uptake of electric vehicles”.

 

The most-used charging points, in average minutes per day

- St James’ Road 46 mins
- Asda, Kingston  46 mins
- Currie Motors, Kingston 37 mins
- St Mark’s Hill 34 mins
- Hook Road car park 3 mins
- Cattle Market car park 1 min
- Asda, Roehampton 1 min