U.K. Expanding EV Infrastructure Grant Program

The U.K. government announces a £37 million ($57.2 million) package that will pay 75% of the cost of installing new charge points for plug-in vehicles.

The grants can be claimed by people installing charge points where they live; local authorities installing rapid-charge points to facilitate longer journeys or providing on-street charging on request from residents; and by train operators installing charge points at railway stations.

Any public-sector organization, such as the police and local government, wanting an on-site charging point will have the installation carried out for free.

The funding comes from the government’s £400 million ($618.6 million) commitment to increase the uptake of ultra-low-emissions (ULEV) vehicles and is available until April 2015.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin says the funding underlines the government’s commitment to making sure the U.K. is a world leader in the electric-vehicle industry.

“Plug-in vehicles can help the British economy by creating skilled manufacturing jobs in a market that is bound to get bigger,” he says in a statement.

The central government also will review its purchasing standards to lower the fleet average of carbon-dioxide emissions of new cars and to encourage acquisitions of its own plug-in vehicles.

The package includes a previously announced £280,000 ($433,057) grant to expand the Energy Saving Trust’s plug-in fleets initiative in England to help an additional 100 public- and private-sector fleets to understand and identify where ULEVs could efficiently work for them.

More than 3,200 claims for the plug-in car and van grants were filed by the end of last year. Total claims for the fourth quarter were more than 20% higher than in the previous quarter.

Claims in 2012 for the plug-in car grant, which has been available since January 2011, were 2.5 times higher than in 2011.

Nissan says electric mobility is taking another huge leap forward thanks to the government grants. It is building the all-electric Nissan Leaf in the U.K. and will open a new lithium-ion battery plant at its Sunderland Plant this spring.

Nissan’s Senior Vice President-Manufacturing in Europe John Martin says the U.K. is at a crossroads in personal mobility.

“Electric vehicles become a way of life if the charging infrastructure is in place and governments are committed to helping drivers to make the switch,” he says in a statement. “We know this from the experiences of Nissan Leaf drivers in countries (such as) Norway where a network of charge points is already in place.”

Martin says manufacturing Li-ion batteries and the Leaf already have put the U.K. at the forefront of EV technology.

“This announcement has the potential to make the U.K. a global leader in EV infrastructure and in turn to accelerate the introduction of electric vehicles in Britain,” he says.

Nissan has donated 86 of its own Quick Chargers to the U.K. to help kick-start the country’s charging network.