The UK’s streets and car parks could see thousands more charging points for electric and plug-in hybrid cars thanks to £30 million of Government funding.

Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis today invited cities and businesses to join together to bid for the money which will help fund the installation of charging points on streets, car parks and in commercial, retail and leisure facilities.

This initiative – called Plugged-In Places – will support the development of between three and six electric car cities and regions across the UK which will act as trailblazers for electric car technology. The experiences of these locations will inform the future development of a national charging infrastructure.

Overall, the Government is investing around £400m to encourage the development, manufacture and use of next generation ultra-low carbon vehicles. Delivered by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles this support is being targeted to create new jobs in a low carbon automotive sector and to cut carbon from UK road transport.

Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis said “The UK can be a world leader in electric and low carbon cars which is why the Government has already committed around £400 million of support to encourage development and uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles.

“Our aim is for electric and low carbon cars to be an everyday feature of life on UK’s roads in less than five years. There is still a lot of work to be done, however Plugged-In Places is one very significant step putting us firmly on the path to a low carbon future.”

Encouraging companies to get involved, Business Minister Pat McFadden said: “The move to lower-carbon forms of transport is a turning point for the automotive industry, opening up new opportunities for existing UK automotive companies and with the potential to create new jobs and new industries, for example around the charging infrastructure.   

“I urge British companies to get involved and seize these new opportunities for growth and jobs.

“Our aim is for Britain to become a global centre for low carbon transport development, manufacturing and delivery – the Government is backing businesses who want to help make this happen.”

The total number and location of charging infrastructure supported by this initiative will depend on local plans and requirements. The intention is that successful applicants will match the Government’s investment.

These plans build on existing measures to support alternative fuels and today the Government is announcing the seven schemes that will benefit from £500,000 of funding through the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Grant Programme. These schemes will see the provision of 72 electric charging points and four gas refuelling stations in areas across England.

The funding, worth up to £30 million, will be made available to consortia in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland made up of local authorities, businesses, electricity distributors and suppliers and other organisations like the RDAs.  The funds will be made available in two phases.

Consortia will need to show how their plans fit in with other Government objectives, like improving local air quality, and create local incentives to further encourage the uptake of electric vehicles.

The new Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) will deliver the Plugged-In Places Infrastructure Framework. OLEV is a new cross- Government team, bringing together existing policy and funding streams to drive policy delivery.  Located within the Department for Transport, it incorporates policies, people and funding from DfT, BIS and DECC. 

OLEV’s priorities will be accelerating the uptake and delivering ultra low carbon vehicles into the UK transport mix, with a focus on the opportunities that this will have for UK business.

The Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Grant Programme is delivered by Cenex (the Centre of Excellence for Low Carbon and Fuel Cell Technology) on behalf of the Department for Transport.  £500,000 match-funding is available in 2009/10 and 2010/11 for bids from public and private sector organisations in the UK. This funding is for a range of schemes to deliver electric car charging points and bio-gas charging stations.

The successful charging points schemes are in London (23 electric charging points on-street and in car parks, and 13 in underground car parks) and 36 in the West Midlands.

Further details on the scheme and an application form can be accessed from the following link http://www.dft.gov.uk/olev

If this is the first time you have ever come across the concept of electric bikes, you might be surprised to find out that it is not quite what you expected. This is not the electric motor bike or moped as some people think. It is actually nothing quite as complicated, just picture a basic bicycle with no bells or whistles, then add an electric motor, a controller to activate and regulate power and a battery, this is an electric bike. These electrical components can be obtained in DIY kits.

You are still able to pedal this bicycle as you would with a normal bike, but it has added electrical components to assist the rider, and make his riding easier in the instances where this is required.

These bikes are not meant to be used to travel at high speeds, just to be able to give the rider assistance when they need it. It essentially augments human power and makes riding easier. This helps with people who are not fit and are cycling to become so, the older person is also taking to bike riding as a form of exercise to keep healthy, but don’t need to tackle hills that might bring on a heart attack, just get the heart rate steadily up. This is where the electric motor comes in.

There are many different sizes, shapes, designs, speeds and models of these bikes for the choosing. Models for the relaxed rider, the sporty rider and the very active too! It is for you to decide what you want, and which category you fit into.

These electric motors can be the chain driven type, or even be fitted in the rear or front wheel hub. The chain driven type is more conspicuously electrical, while bikes with the motor in the wheel hubs are more streamlined.

You get varying degrees of motor strength from around 200w to 700w, it just depends what you want to use them for, or your own particular needs. Batteries are also different and some bikes allow you to choose which battery to use, while the older models don’t allow for choice. Three battery types are used nickel metal hydride, lead acid and lithium ion.

The motor is operated by means of a controller; again, it is up to the user to decide where they want this to be fitted. It can be mounted on the handlebars in much the same way as a throttle would be, and it can be activated by the pedals.

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