Skip to main content

UK government pledges £6m on chargepoints for ultra-low emission taxis

The UK government is investing more than £6 million in the deployment of chargepoints to support ultra-low emission taxis across the country. The money will be used to install nearly 300 rapid points and 46 fast ones in 17 local authorities, including Greater Manchester, Brighton & Hove and Leicester. Rapid chargepoints are typically able to charge an EV to 80% in 30 minutes depending on the model’s battery capacity while fast charging is expected to deliver more than 60 miles of range in 10-30 minu
February 12, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

The UK government is investing more than £6 million in the deployment of chargepoints to support ultra-low emission taxis across the country.
 
The money will be used to install nearly 300 rapid points and 46 fast ones in 17 local authorities, including Greater Manchester, Brighton & Hove and Leicester.

Rapid chargepoints are typically able to charge an EV to 80% in 30 minutes depending on the model’s battery capacity while fast charging is expected to deliver more than 60 miles of range in 10-30 minutes.

This deployment is expected to benefit more than 800 ultra-low emission black taxis and more than 3,000 ultra-low emission private hire vehicles.

Richard Harrington, automotive minister, says the chargepoints will help point the way for a healthier future as part of the government’s Industrial Strategy.

In a separate move, the government has also announced the winners of the UK Hydrogen Transport Programme, phase two. The recipients of £14 million funding to develop hydrogen fuel cell vehicle and refuelling infrastructure projects include:  

              
 
•    Tees Valley Hydrogen Transport Initiative: Tees Valley Combined Authority (UK), Materials Processing Institute, Northern Gas Networks (awarded £1,303,500).

•    Hydrogen Mobility Expansion Project II: Element Energy, ITM Power, 1686 Toyota (GB, 1684 Hyundai Motor UK (£3,070,000).

•    Northern Ireland Hydrogen Transport: Viridian Energy Supply, 376 Translink (Ulsterbus), HyEnergy Consultancy (£1,953,937).

•    Riversimple Clean Mobility Fleet: Riversimple Movement, Monmouth County Council (£1,249,670).

•    Towards commercial deployment of FCEV buses and hydrogen refuelling: BOC, 8509 Merseytravel (Liverpool City Region, Aberdeen City Council and Arcola Energy) (£6.419,038).

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Road pricing is inevitable – because the ‘user pays’ principle is fair
    June 14, 2018
    We pay for roads through our taxes: the poor pay proportionately more, and effectively subsidise the rich. It would be fairer to accept the ‘user pays’ principle, says Dr John Walker. Road pricing is already used worldwide to combat congestion and pollution, to compensate for falling revenues from fuel duty (‘gas tax’), to provide an alternative (and fairer) means of charging motorists than the 80-year old fuel tax and to improve the efficiency of and expand transport infrastructure. However, it could and s
  • UK introduces grants for low-emission retrofit bus fleets
    September 29, 2017
    The UK government have set up a £30 million grant scheme for local authorities in England and Wales looking to fit bus fleets with an accredited and cost-effective retrofit program that enables emissions-reductions. The Clean Vehicle Retrofit Accreditation Scheme, developed by LowCVP and Energy Saving Trust, follows an evaluation report presented by LowCVP on findings from two public grant programmes that used retrofit technologies over a five-year period -- the clean Vehicle
  • Shaking up the taxi market with smarter ride requests
    February 24, 2016
    Timothy Compston looks at the rise of Uber and ride request mobile apps. There is little doubt that the advent of Uber has come as major shock to established taxi operators and has caused regulators, cities and DOTs to rethink current regulations so they can keep pace with the changing dynamics of the marketplace.
  • ‘Quick charger’ for electric vehicles
    November 22, 2012
    UK company Chargepoint Services has partnered with France-based DBT to distribute their Rapid Charge Unit for electric vehicles. The DC chargers can recharge an electric vehicle, such as the Nissan Leaf, to approximately 80 per cent battery capacity in just 20-30 minutes, but costs around 60% less than other rapid chargers currently on the market today. The company says this could help revolutionise electric vehicle travel, making longer journeys “range-anxiety free” by bringing refuelling times closer to