Incentives planned for electric cars
Dec 19 2009 by Alastair Craig, The Journal
Electricity at the 619 charging points will be provided free until March 31, 2012, or until an itemised billing system becomes available.
As part of their agreement, One North East has already installed two charging points for public use at its head office car park at Newburn Riverside in Newcastle.
Trevor Mann, senior vice-president for manufacturing in Europe, said giving preference to electric car drivers would fire public interest in going green.
He said: “Thanks to One North East, the conditions will soon be in place to allow rapid adoption of Nissan LEAF and other electric vehicles in this region.”
Nissan LEAF is the world’s first affordable electric vehicle for the global mass market and will go on sale in Japan, the US and Europe in late 2010.
Mr Mann added: “It is no good inventing the train if you have no train tracks. The infrastructure we are talking about are those tracks and will really give people huge incentives to choose electric cars.
“The package of bus lane usage, free parking and things like no congestion charges are what a customer would want to see, apart from the green aspect of the vehicles.”
A spokesman for Newcastle City Council said: “Newcastle is at the forefront of sustainability and innovation in clean energy technology and we are happy to discuss any proposal which would reduce emissions and improve air quality.”
Thomas Hurst, chief investment officer at Sunderland City Council, said: “We are working on how we can help deliver the infrastructure that will help service the growing electric vehicle market.”
