Transport Secretary Ploughs in £400m

To create a market for green vehicles the Transport Secretary invests £400 million in four programmes.

To support and encourage development and uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles, government has committed around £400 million in the following programmes:

• £23 million for the TSB Low Carbon Vehicle Innovation Platform
• £100 million for the TSB Low Carbon Vehicle Integrated Delivery Programme
• £20 million for the DfT Low Carbon Vehicle Public Procurement Programme
• £250 million for the DfT EV consumer incentive package.

One of the schemes will involve four companies who will begin supplying low carbon and all-electric vans to selected public sector organisations later this year. This is part of the £20 million Department for Transport scheme to use public sector procurement to help demonstrate the potential of new technologies for decarbonising road transport.

Ashwoods, Allied Vehicles, Smith Electric Vehicles and Modec will initially supply the first 100 - 150 vans for use across the country later this year. The vehicles will be monitored closely to assess their carbon reduction potential in real world conditions.

Successful initial trials may lead to financial support for further larger vehicle procurements in a second phase of the programme.

Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis said:

"Greener cars tend to grab all the headlines but emissions from vans have risen by around 40% since 1990. This is something we need to address as part of our carbon reduction strategy for transport.”

“Electric and lower carbon vans have the potential to significantly reduce emissions so it is important that we test these new technologies in real world conditions. This new DfT programme enables the public sector to lead by example and I am delighted to see that a number of emerging UK companies have been successful in securing these contracts.”

The vans will be used by six local authority groups and six large public fleets including Liverpool City Council, the Environment Agency, Royal Mail and the Metropolitan Police.

Initial vehicle trials will last a minimum of three years and the programme as a whole is managed for DfT by Cenex, the UK Centre of Excellence for Low Carbon Vehicle & Fuel Cell Technologies. The DfT programme is part of a wider Government strategy to position the UK as a leading centre for the development, demonstration and early adoption of lower carbon vehicles.

Together with yesterday's announcement of the winners of the Technology Strategy Board's ultra-low carbon vehicle demonstration competition, close to 500 additional innovative low and ultra low carbon vehicles will be in operation across the UK within the next year. (Source: DfT)

E. Dooley

01/07/2009