Member Article

£500k Yorkshire investment to aid Government drive to make UK world leader in electric cars

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg today announced that the Government is investing more than £9 million to boost the number of charging points for electric cars, with Yorkshire receiving over £500k investment.

Beneficiaries of the investment include Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which has secured £15,000 in total, and Northern Rail, which has been allocated £322,500 for 2014/15 to create chargepoints at regional railway stations.

York Council and Barnsley Council have also received grants, of £36,000 and £175,000 respectively, for the current financial year.

Yorkshire has rarely been associated with the motor industry, in fact, Yorkshire Bank chief economist Tom Vosa stated in a recent lecture at Leeds Met that it was a hole in Yorkshire’s economic arsenal, but a drive to encourage electric cars will be affecting Yorkshire in the near future.

This is part of a joint campaign with car manufacturers to promote the benefits of ultra low emission vehicles.

Major car manufacturers BMW, Nissan, Renault, Toyota and Vauxhall are all backing the ‘Go Ultra Low’ campaign in partnership with Government to debunk common myths and misconceptions that put drivers off switching to electric or hybrid cars, such as cost and how far the vehicles can travel before being recharged.

The £9 million funding, covering the period to March 2015, will be used to create hundreds more charging points across the country. That includes 140 new rapid chargepoints where you can charge an electric car in less than half an hour.

Electric car owners do not have to pay car tax or congestion charges and many chargepoints are free to use. The cars cost from just 2p a mile, which means a family that drives an electric vehicle 10,000 miles in a year would save around £1,000 on fuel costs each year.

The latest funding will cement the UK’s position as one of the best for electric vehicle recharging networks in Europe.

Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, said: “Electric cars are one of the most promising of our green industries and we want to secure the UK’s position as a global leader in both the production and adoption of these vehicles.

“The extremely low running costs of electric cars help drivers save money and we are allocating more than £9 million to boost chargepoints across the country to help drivers to go green.

“This means we can lower UK emissions and create high-tech engineering and manufacturing jobs to boost our economy.”

Transport Minister Robert Goodwill added: “This campaign is about opening people’s eyes to the advantages of ultra low emission vehicles.

“They are incredibly cheap to run and we’re giving grants that knock thousands of pounds off the pricetag at the point of sale.

“This is great news for the consumer and for industry, with the UK well-positioned to take the lead on the development of these advanced technologies.”

The Go Ultra Low campaign is backed by five household names from industry: BMW, Nissan, Renault, Toyota and Vauxhall.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said: “This is a significant development as government and some of the country’s leading automotive brands pool resources to fund a campaign that will raise awareness of the benefits and capabilities of these new technologies.

“The ‘Go Ultra Low’ campaign will help the public understand how these new cars work and how they could be a perfect fit for their personal, business or fleet needs.

“Given the importance of running costs and environmental performance to new car buyers, we hope the campaign will encourage more people to consider going ultra low.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .