Scheme helps install 4,000 UK electric car chargepoints

The £30 million Plugged in Places programme has so far helped to install around 4,000 electric car chargepoints across the UK, according to the government

Around 4,000 electric vehicle chargepoints may have been installed in the UK through the government’s Plugged in Places (PIP) programme, according to transport minister Norman Baker.

In a written response to a parliamentary question on electric car charge points from Labour MP for Makerfield, Yvonne Fovargue, Mr Baker this week (April 22) said that early assessment of financial year returns up to March 2013 suggested 4,000 chargepoints have been installed through the programme.

Around 4,000 electric car chargepoints have been installed in the UK through the Plugged in Places scheme, the government has said

The £30 million PIP initiative, funded by the Office of Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV), was set up to support the early market for electric vehicles and implement the UK’s first electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Mr Baker said that around 65% of the 4,000 chargepoints were publicly accessible and more than 50 of them are rapid chargers (greater than 43kw), adding that the total spend across the programme was estimated to be £10.7 million.

At the end of December 2012, according to Mr Baker, the PIP programme had delivered more than 2,800 chargepoints, of which 70% were publicly accessible.

Furthermore, Mr Baker said it was estimated that non-PIP public authorities and private sector organisations may have installed around 5,000 chargepoints. He added that the government would be reporting more accurate figures in the near future.

Projects

In February, Aberdeen city council was awarded £120,000 through the PIP programme to install six vehicle charging points across the city (see airqualitynews.com story) as the strategic hub of one of eight project areas across the UK.

In his response to the parliamentary question on Monday, Mr Baker also gave an update on the projects, commenting that he aimed to have agreed all the remaining successful bids to be part of the scheme by the end of June 2013.

Initial project bids for the local authority, train station car parks and public body estates schemes are due by April 30, which is to be followed by a bid assessment process.

Commenting on the plug-in infrastructure scheme for private residents, he added: “For private residents under the national domestic chargepoint grant scheme launched in February, we have accredited over 25 different types of chargepoint and 11 different suppliers. We expect the first claims to be submitted at the end of April.”

PIP publically accessible chargepoint data, such as location and chargepoint type, is available online at the National Chargepoint Registry.