Thursday 26 February 2015

£43m to boost more plug-in vehicles

It’s going to get easier to charge electrical vehicles when out and about.

That’s because the Department for Transport is setting aside £43 million to develop charge points for plug-in vehicles across the UK.

Around £32m of the pot will go towards infrastructure support including new charge points on major roads and across towns and cities. It will include £15m to continue the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme – that allows drivers to get up to £700 towards home charging installations from April. In addition £8m will be used to support the delivery of charge points on major roads and £9m to address infrastructure priorities such as making sure the charge point network is accessible and available for all users.

The remainder of the money will help to boost the UK’s position as a “world leader” in low emission vehicle technology, said the Department for Transport.

Transport Minister Baroness Kramer said: “The funding announced today marks another milestone in the government’s support for ultra-low emission vehicles as their popularity takes off.

"The public will find it even easier to charge their cars when they are out and about thanks to our £8 million commitment to support new charge points across key locations in our towns and cities. And we have today announced another £15 million to continue to back the rollout of convenient home charge points across the country.”