Sunday 28 October 2018
Scotland plugs £700k into greener cars for housing associations
Transport Scotland has announced £700,000 of funding to widen the uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles.
Not-for-profit housing associations and co-operatives in Scotland are invited to apply for a share of the fund to procure the services of car clubs, comprised of electric vehicles (EVs) so tenants and local residents can hire the cars when they required.
A car club provides shared access to one or more vehicles as an alternative to private car ownership.
More than 280,000 homes in Scotland are part of housing associations and co-operatives – and tenants in these developments often don’t have access to private, off-street parking spaces, which means they can’t participate in the zero-emission vehicle market unless they charge solely using public charging points.
The fund will be administered by the Energy Saving Trust and builds on the Scottish Government’s existing offer of interest free loans to give more drivers the opportunity to experience EVs and hybrids.
Michael Matheson, Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Connectivity and Infrastructure said: “The Scottish Government has an ambition to phase out the need for new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2032 and to do this we need to widen access to electric vehicles to communities across the nation.
“Plugged-in householders in an innovative way of doing this. It will give both housing association tenants and local residents the opportunity to access electric vehicles as they are required, instead drivers having to buy vehicles out-right. It will also help address concerns around access to off-street charging infrastructure and the affordability of ULEVs.”
The deadline for applications is 19th December 2018.
