Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Mayor switches on new electric vehicle scheme

http://tiny.cc/0vpwl
On May 26, 2011 London Mayor Boris Johnson launched the capital's first city-wide electric charge point network and membership scheme, making it easier for electric vehicle owners to plug in whilst on the move.

With 150 new charge points operating under a single scheme, Source London is now the capital’s largest charging network. It has significantly boosted existing numbers of charge points operated by a range of different localised schemes. By 2013, Source London will total at least 1,300 charge points, more than the number of petrol stations currently in London, ensuring the infrastructure is in place for significantly more people and businesses to buy an electric vehicle from the expanding range coming to market.

Annual membership of Source London is £100, enabling card holders to charge up at any Source London point as many times as required. Charge points are located on streets and in car parks and are instantly recognisable in Source London branding. Users simply touch their membership card to the reader on the charge point and then plug in their vehicle to charge.

Source London is also working closely with other regions to help drive the creation of a UK-wide charge point network. Plans to enable members to use both Source London and the soon to be launched East of England charge point network are currently underway. The East of England network is also set to use the same Source 'look and feel' on their charge points under a scheme called Source East.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: 'I want to rapidly accelerate the uptake of electric vehicles and make London the epicentre of electric driving in Europe.
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In addition to producing no polluting emissions at the tailpipe, running costs for electric vehicles are significantly cheaper than for petrol or diesel vehicles which currently use fuel retailing at well over £1 per litre. The Mayor has also granted electric vehicles a 100 per cent discount for the congestion charge in London. Further savings can be found via the Government’s £5,000 consumer incentive grant which is available for a range of electric cars which also qualify for nil rate vehicle excise duty.
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Source London consists of a growing consortium (led by TfL) of public and private sector partners committed to helping the capital to embrace electric driving in greater numbers. This includes:


  • Siemens [which] developed, at no cost to TfL, the IT Infrastructure and back office systems that will allow users to register online at - www.sourcelondon.net - and use the Source London network of points;
  • Scottish and Southern Electric, in partnership with NCP, who have part-funded and installed a large number of charge points; ...
  • Electric vehicle manufacturer Nissan [is] offering drivers of their vehicles in London a one year free membership to Source London when they purchase a new electric vehicle....

In addition to the 150 new points in the Source London network there are approximately 250 publicly-accessible electric vehicle charging points in the capital, over half of which have been part-funded by TfL.... TfL is working with the providers of existing charge points in the capital to enable these points to become part of the Source London network.

Source East is being delivered by EValu8 who are one of a number of government backed ‘Plugged in Places’ that is building a recharging infrastructure to enable the everyday use of electric vehicles. The EValu8 Recharging Network - Source East - will operate over 1,000 recharging posts across the East of England – including 8 rapid rechargers. ...

In the six months since the consumer incentive scheme started there has been a sharp rise in the number of vehicles purchased. Between January 1st, when the Plug-in Car Grant was first launched, and 20th April, 534 motorists claimed a consumer grant of up to £5000 to buy their own ultra-low carbon car.

Within Greater London, there are some 17,000 hybrid and pure electric vehicles currently registered with the DVLA.... There are approx 2100 plug in electric vehicle registered for a congestion charge discount. With many of the world's major manufacturers intending to launch their own electric vehicles in the next six to twelve months and electric technology improving all the time, sales of these cars is set to increase significantly.

Source London’s network of 1,300 publicly accessible charging points by 2013 will be capable of supporting many thousands more electric vehicles in London and will help realise the Mayor’s vision of 100,000 electric vehicles in the capital as soon as possible.

The Mayor has a strategic target to work with a range of partners to deliver 22,500 workplace charge points by 2015 - in part this will be supported through a provision in the draft London Plan for developers to include workplace charge points in new car parks.
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These deals form a part of the Mayor’s and TfL's ongoing commitment to deliver value for money for London's fare payers, finding innovative ways to develop new infrastructure for this growing market at no additional cost to the public purse, protect the funding of frontline services and maintain the vital investment for the Tube upgrades and construction of Crossrail.

City of London www.london.gov.uk
May 26, 2001
via/hat tip www.smartplanet.com

SmartPlanet..com adds
It seems as though there’s a game of leapfrog on between the world’s cities to become the planet’s electric car capital.
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Source London members do not have to pay London’s congestion charge – a fee that ranges from £9 to £12 ($15 to $20) - for driving into central London. The UK government also exempts electric cars from “road tax”, for which many car owners pay around £200 ($330) annually.

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