Tees Valley plan for green cars develops
PLANS to turn the Tees Valley into a green vehicle hub are picking up speed.
Supermarkets and shopping centres will become charge point locations, and the first plug-in stations will be installed on Teesside by the end of the year.
The North-east was one of just eight test bed areas chosen for the Government’s Ultra Low Carbon Vehicle Demonstrator last week. A 35-strong fleet of electric cars, vans and minibuses will be tested by motorists on Tyneside first, followed by Teesside.
A collaboration of some of the biggest names in the private sector including Tesco, British Gas, CE Electric UK, the AA and Capital Shopping Centres has teamed up with regional development agency One North East (ONE) to get the project moving.
Around 300 plug-in charge points will be installed on Teesside during 2010 and 2011 - all part of ONE’s £30m plans to base the low-carbon car industry of the future in the North-east. Other locations include people’s homes, workplaces, universities and hospitals.
Chris Pywell, ONE head of strategic economic change, said: “Nobody has done this on such a large scale before, so we are monitoring use in a variety of situations to find out what works. Electric vehicles are not a futuristic vision, they are on our roads now. It’s a reality that we must take advantage of, not only to lower our carbon emission levels, but to exploit the economic potential.
“We want the North-east to show the rest of the world how best to develop a comprehensive infrastructure to support the use of electric vehicles.”
AA president Edmund King said the North-east’s strategy had the potential to spark a personal transport revolution in UK cities.
Low carbon transportation is a key sector in the Great North Revolution, which was launched recently by the Gazette and the CBI to map out a strategy for growing the regional economy - for details visit www.nebusiness.co.uk/revolution
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