Incentives planned for electric cars

Dec 19 2009 by Alastair Craig, The Journal

DRIVERS of electric cars should have the legal right to use North East bus lanes by the end of next year under plans unveiled yesterday by transport leaders.

Car giant Nissan and regional development agency One North East are working with councils to push through attractive incentives to boost non-fuel vehicle numbers on the region’s roads.

Other sweeteners set to be launched by November 2010 are at least 200 free public parking spaces across the North East for electric vehicle users and 619 free car charging points.

The announcements came yesterday as the two parties signed an agreement which sets out a road map for the roll-out of electric vehicles and new infrastructure in North East England.

The agreement contains firm commitments on incentives for drivers that will be introduced throughout the next two years.

Under the agreement, One North East will install hundreds of publicly available charging points by January 1, 2011, which will support both 3kW and 7kW charges and will also include twelve 50kW “rapid-charging” stations.

Nissan has agreed to work in partnership with One North East to supply Nissan LEAF electric vehicles to the region in early 2011 and to place priority on requests for electric vehicles in the UK from the North East.

One North East chairman Margaret Fay said last night that the new initiatives would become an attractive option for motorists desperate to cut journey times and avoid city centre congestion in urban centres, like Newcastle, Durham, Sunderland and Teesside.

She added: “This marks a significant step forward in our ambitions to become a leading global location for ultra-low-carbon vehicles.

“The commitments we are making today will show industry and consumers alike that North East England is serious about electric vehicles.

“We look forward to stimulating and shaping this emerging industry, which will create new jobs for our region and help to reduce CO2 emissions.”