UK Government Soliciting Bids for £30M for Charging Points

UK Government Soliciting Bids for £30M for Charging Points; New Office for Low Emission Vehicles
19 November 2009

The UK Government is soliciting bids for £30 million (US$50 million) in funding to support the installation of plug-in vehicle charging points on streets, car parks and in commercial, retail and leisure facilities. This initiative—called Plugged-In Places—will support the development of between three and six electric car cities and regions across the UK which will act as trailblazers for electric car technology. The experiences of these locations will inform the future development of a national charging infrastructure.

Funding will be made available to consortia in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland made up of local authorities, businesses, electricity distributors and suppliers and other organizations like the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs). The funds will be made available in two phases.

Winning consortia will need to show how their plans fit in with other Government objectives, like improving local air quality, and create local incentives to further encourage the uptake of electric vehicles.

Up to £10 million (US$16.6 million) of the funding is provided from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), through the Strategic Investment Fund, as announced in the Low Carbon Industrial Strategy in July 2009.

Overall, the Government is investing around £400 million ($665 million) to encourage the development, manufacture and use of next-generation ultra-low carbon vehicles. Delivered by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles, this support is being targeted to create new jobs in a low carbon automotive sector and to cut carbon from UK road transport.

The UK can be a world leader in electric and low carbon cars which is why the Government has already committed around £400 million of support to encourage development and uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles. Our aim is for electric and low carbon cars to be an everyday feature of life on UK’s roads in less than five years. There is still a lot of work to be done, however Plugged-In Places is one very significant step putting us firmly on the path to a low carbon future.

—Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis


The total number and location of charging infrastructure supported by this initiative will depend on local plans and requirements. The intention is that successful applicants will match the Government’s investment.

These plans build on existing measures to support alternative fuels. The UK Government also announced the seven schemes that will benefit from £500,000 (US$831,000) of funding through the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Grant Program. These schemes will see the provision of 72 electric charging points and four gas refuelling stations in areas across England.

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The Office for Low Emission Vehicles. The Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV), which will deliver the Plugged-In Places Infrastructure Framework, is a new cross- Government team, bringing together existing policy and funding streams to drive policy delivery. Located within the Department for Transport, it incorporates policies, people and funding from DfT, BIS and DECC.

OLEV’s priorities will be accelerating the uptake and delivering ultra low carbon vehicles into the UK transport mix, with a focus on the opportunities that this will have for UK business

Comment

UK seems to be taking the lead in providing the infrastructure for plug-in vehicles.