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Launch of 'real-world', widespread electric car testing

23/06/2009

The Government has launched its £25-million plans for real-world testing of electric cars across the UK.

Transport Secretary Lord Adonis kicked off the low-carbon trials, which will take place in eight locations around the country, by arriving at London's Guildhall in a Smart car.

Both businesses and members of the public will be able to take part in the tests - billed as the biggest of their kind - which are aimed at speeding up the availability of low-carbon vehicles to the UK market. They form part of a wider strategy, announced earlier this year, to boost green jobs and lower carbon emissions in the UK.

Car manufacturers, power companies, Regional Development Agencies, councils and universities will all play a part in the Government-funded scheme, which will be co-ordinated by the Technology Strategy Board.

Among the cities acting as bases for the trials are London, Birmingham, Coventry, Oxford, Newcastle and Glasgow, while cars tested will include a battery-powered Ford Focus and electric cars from Peugeot and Nissan.

Overall, 340 vehicles are set to join the roads over the next 18 months. Most will be electric, while some will be plug-in electric/petrol hybrids - which have a larger electric-powered range than standard hybrid cars.

Feedback from the testing will be used by manufacturers to help develop mass-market low-carbon cars.

Lord Adonis said: "Our aim is for ultra-low carbon vehicles to be an everyday feature of life on Britain's roads in less than five years."

Presenter and motoring journalist Quentin Wilson heralded the launch as "the start of an exciting journey" which would bring about a "radical change" in the cars we see on British roads.

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