NEWS > East of England electric vehicle bid update
Published: Thursday, 04 Nov, 2010
The East of England bid to become a haven for electric vehicle owners shifted up a gear on 29 October 2010 when the financial plans for a GBP7 million project to install 600 plug in posts across the region were delivered to Westminster. The East of England bid team was led by Vicky Ford MEP and Simon Wright MP, who delivered the final ‘Plugged in Places’ business case for the region to the Department for Transport’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles
The East of England bid to become a haven for electric vehicle owners shifted up a gear on 29 October 2010 when the financial plans for a GBP7 million project to install 600 plug in posts across the region were delivered to Westminster. The East of England bid team was led by Vicky Ford MEP and Simon Wright MP, who delivered the final ‘Plugged in Places’ business case for the region to the Department for Transport’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV). The East of England bid, which is called ‘Evalu8’, has provided detailed plans to install 600 plug-in posts across the eight key clusters of Bedford (75 posts), Cambridge (84 posts), Ipswich (63 posts), Norwich (84 posts), Peterborough (75 posts), Luton and Hertfordshire (105 posts), and Thames Gateway South Essex (114 posts), together with London Stansted Airport (10 posts).
The bid puts forward a proposal for GBP3 million funding from OLEV, with an additional GBP4 million committed by public and private sector partners and a pending bid for additional European funding through the European Regional Development Fund. The planned network would mean that any local business or resident in the East of England would be no further than 25 miles away from their nearest charging post, making the whole of the region navigable by electric vehicles. Evalu8 has received widespread support from a large number of organisations hoping to install a public plug in post, including the 11 local transport authorities across the East of England. And with big industry names backing the project including EDF Energy, Vauxhall Motors, Ford, Lotus, BT, BAE Systems, Marshall Group and Millbrook Proving Ground, the East of England’s bid is incredibly strong.
The University of Hertfordshire will take over from the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) in leading the installation phase of the project on behalf of the region, should the bid get the green light from government later this year. A final decision from government on the allocation of its Plugged in Places funding is expected by the end of December. To find out more about the East of England’s Plugged in Places bid, including a full list of partners supporting the project, visit www.eastofengland.uk.com.
<< Go Back
|
