UK government investing $12.2M in EV charging infrastructure
17 October 2016
The UK’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) announced a £7.5-million (US$9.1-million) investment in workplace charging, plus £2.5 million (US$3.1 million) for on-street residential infrastructure.
The investment in charging infrastructure is part of a £35-million (US$42.7 million) investment in the ultra low emission vehicle sector.
The announcement of £10 million government investment in electric vehicle charging came as the year-to-date plug-in car registrations total in the UK passed the sector’s full-year 2015 total. So far this year, motorists have bought 28,697 electric cars, placing 2016 ahead of last year’s January-December total of 28,188 cars with three months still to go.
The January-September total of plug-in sales is 36.7% ahead of the same period last year. The new registration plate boosted last month’s performance to be the greatest September on record with 6,113 electric cars sold, a 56.2% year-on-year increase.
Of the 30-plus plug-in electric vehicles on the market, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is the year’s most popular plug-in hybrid with 7,770 registrations. The Sunderland-made Nissan LEAF is 2016’s best-performing pure-electric car with 3,728 registered over the January-September period.
This is a good (mini) start towards a national distributed network. More than 100X would be required. It will come in the post-2020 era?
Eventually, the same will have to be done for H2 stations. Something like 100 main H2 stations + many more substations would do. H2 could be piped and/or truck carried from main to sub stations.
Posted by: HarveyD | 17 October 2016 at 07:28 AM
My actual working investment in EV infrastructure has so far been $0, and I've been driving on electric power for 3.5 years.
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 19 October 2016 at 09:09 PM
Yes, a new 133 empg Toyota Prius Prime @ $27,500 (and similar PHEVs) is a very good buy, specially for those with home charging facilities and short daily runs.
Other (20+) manufacturers will try to catch up by 2020 or so.
Posted by: HarveyD | 20 October 2016 at 08:16 AM