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£37m to boost uptake of electric vehicles

The Government has announced £37m of funding to boost the uptake of electric vehicles.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin made the announcement on a visit to the North East, where he said the Government will provide 75% of the costs of installing charge points.

This can be claimed by people installing chargepoints at home; local authorities installing rapid charge points, or on-street charging; and train operators installing new charge points at railway stations.

Mr McLoughlin said: “This investment underlines the government’s commitment to making sure that the UK is a world leader in the electric car industry.

“Plug-in vehicles can help the consumer by offering a good driving experience and low running costs. They can help the environment by cutting pollution. And most importantly of all, they can help the British economy by creating skilled manufacturing jobs in a market that is bound to get bigger.”

Part of the package includes the previously-announced £280,000 of funding to expand the Energy Saving Trust’s plugged-in fleets initiative.

Dr Colin Herron, managing director of Charge Your Car (North) commented: “Today’s announcement by the Secretary of State for Transport will build on the solid foundations and the learnings from the Plugged in Place projects across the UK.

“Our experience has shown that it is imperative for electric drivers that there is a choice of charge points - on streets, in workplaces, on main spine routes and at home, and these new measures should help the UK to develop as a fully interconnected EV-ready country ready for the surge in take up which will happen over the next few years.

“It is important to that this announcement is a national one, supporting parts of the country which have not benefited, as North East England has, from Plugged in Places support.

“The challenge will now be to ensure the continued strategic placement and interoperability of all charge points to continue to develop a UK network which will benefit all EV drivers, now and in the future.”

Mark Rowney, IPPR Research Fellow, said: “Doubts over the continued funding of charging point infrastructure had been causing uncertainty in the UK automotive industry. Today’s government announcement marks a change in strategy from piloting infrastructure installation, which has led to a postcode lottery of support, to the beginnings of a strategically planned national charging infrastructure.

“A long-term carbon reduction target for central government public procurement would also be a welcome step in supporting the UK automotive industry. However, a commitment of support to the end of this Parliament does not give the automotive industry the medium-term certainty it sorely needs. We still need a cross party consensus for the low carbon automotive industry and for charge point installation on a national scale.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .