UK Government - It is expected that the high-profile Plugged-in Places scheme, will not be effected by the government's upcoming spending review. Hopefully this means that the rollout of electric car recharging networks expected for major cities will continue.
Reported on BusinessGreen.com today, Whitehall insiders supposedly said that the coalition government has approved the plans "in principle". As always, the devil is in the detail and the funding and logistics have yet to be confirmed although the scheme has "almost been given the nod."
The first three "plugged-in places" were awarded £8.8m by the Department for Transport, financing the rollout of recharging points in London, Milton Keynes and the North East. The three regions plan to install a total of 2,500 additional charging points in the first year under the scheme up to a maximum 11,000 over the next three years.
The government is under pressure to protect the scheme. There have been warnings from manufacturers who have decided to locate new electric car plants in the UK that they could reverse their decision if the government withdrew support which boosts demand for the technology. Manufacturers such as Nissan with their Sunderland plant planned for making the Leaf electric car (Nissan Leaf Sunderland plant).
It is hoped the government might pre-empt the review as they did when recently confirming the proposal to retain an electric car incentive scheme which offers motorists £5,000 off the price of a new electric car.