The UK government yesterday revealed details of the consumer incentive scheme that will reduce the cost of eligible EVs and PHEVs by 25% to a maximum of £5,000. To ensure that the infrastructure to support the growing early market is in place, the regions of London, Milton Keynes and the North East were selected as the first electric vehicle hubs to install over 11,000 recharging points collectively in the next three years.

From January 2011 until 2014, the ‘Plug-in Car Grant’ will be available to consumers and business buyers at the point of purchase, mnimising administrative requirements for buyers. A total of £230 million will be available throughout the scheme.

Eligibility criteria

Eligible vehicles must be battery electric, plug-in hybrid or a hydrogen fuel cell cars that fall under the M1 category (i.e. cars only). Moreover, to assure buyers’ confidence in the quality and performance of EVs and PHEVs, the UK government has set the following minimum performance criteria the eligible for the grant vehicles will need to meet:

• Emisions: 0g/km for EVs; max 75g/km for PHEVs

• Minimum range: 70 miles (113 km) for EVs; Min range 10 miles (16 km) for PHEVs

• Maximum speed: at least 60mph (96kph)

• Warranty, vehicle: 3 years or 75,000 miles (120,000 km)

• Warranty, battery: 3 years for the battery with a requirement to offer 5 if requested by consumer

• Battery degradation: a rate of degradation such that it retains a reasonable degree of performance after a three year period of normal use.

• Crash safety: EITHER EC whole vehicle type approval; OR crash tested to acceptable international standards (namely, i) A tailored protocol based on EuroNCAP ii) Compliance with crash testing regimes in other developed international markets of similar stringency to Europe; for example USA, Japan, Korea etc)

• Consumer electrical safety: Manufacturers will have to confirm they they have assessed the risks associated with the use of the vehicles, have developed appropriate mitigating actions and will inform the consumer of these. Compliance with UN-ECE Reg 100 will also be required.

Once approved, the details of the eligible cars will be listed on the website of the UK Department for Transport.

London, Milton Keynes and the North East named the first electric vehicle hubs

A network of electric vehicle hubs called ‘Plugged-In Places’ is also envisaged by the UK government. A £30m fund will be available for the purpose. The government yesterday named London, Milton Keynes and the North East as the first Plugged-In Places that will see charging infrastructure appearing in car parks, major supermarkets, leisure and retail centres, as well as on the street. The three regions will be installing over 11,000 vehicle recharging points during the next three years and ensure that the infrastructure to support the growing early market is in place.

Details of the winning bids by region, include:

• London: A consortium between London’s Boroughs, EDF Energy, Scottish & Southern Energy, NCP, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Nissan Mitsubishi, Streetcar, Zipcar, Hertz, Enterprise, and Europacar will be implementing a £28.8m project for the installation of a total of 7,400 charging points. Of these 6,000 will be at work places, 500 on-street, 330 at public car parks, 50 at London Underground stations, 140 at supermarket car parks, 250 for the London Olympics and 122 for car clubs rental.

• North East: The consortium in the North East includes Local Councils, Nissan, CE Electric, RWE Npower, Narec, The National Trust, Tesco, Barrret Homes, Morrisons and Sunderland Business Innovation Centre. Under a £7.78m project 1,050 public + 240 domestic charge points will be deployed.

• Milton Keynes: In Milton Keynes, Nissan, Central Networks, University Centre Milton Keynes, Milton Keynes Partnership will carry out a £4.94m project under which 430 public +2,000 domestic charge points will be deployed.