Join the drive to aid electric vehicles
BUSINESSES in the Tees Valley are being urged to get a move on if they want to secure as much Government cash for electric cars as possible.
Teesside has been chosen as a testbed area to trial the low-carbon vehicle revolution - but first a robust network of chargepoints must be installed.
Stockton Council is among the organisations already signed up.
Between 30 and 50 plug-in points will be installed at key locations, including car parks, community centres and supermarkets, for both authority and public use.
A council spokesperson said: “Stockton Council is committed to carbon reduction, both for its own operations and the wider community.”
But time is running out for private businesses that want to help rev things up. Spending chiefs at regional development agency One North East have told company bosses if they sign up for a charging point at their premises before January 31, the Government will meet half the costs, bringing the bill down to £2,500.
The cash calls follow a visit last year from Transport Secretary Lord Andrew Adonis, who told businesses to bid for a share of the Government’s £30m “Plugged-In Places” initiative.
Up to 300 charging points will be installed at key locations around Teesside over the next two years, with a further few hundred on Tyneside.
But companies can secure matched funding for their own plug-in points, announced by the Government after it was criticised for not doing enough to spread the “low carbon revolution” to other parts of the UK.
Ivan Hodac, head of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, said the Government’s “bit by bit” approach to installing the charging points would not do enough to reassure motorists wanting to buy an electric car.
If the success seen in the North-east was not replicated elsewhere, he warned, it would hamper efforts to bring electric vehicle production to Nissan’s Wearside plant.
The manufacturer has already delayed an announcement on whether thousands of car-production jobs are going to Wearside.
Mark Stephenson, policy adviser at the North East Chamber of Commerce, said it was important the region did not miss out on a “valuable opportunity to lead the way on electric vehicle implementation”.
He added: “Improving our regional infrastructure will send a clear sign that our status as the UK’s first Low Carbon Industrial Area is not merely honorary. There are clear incentives for businesses to invest in this infrastructure – this funding underlines that fact. It is now up to businesses to take advantage of the opportunities that are out there.”
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