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Published on: 15/06/2016 05:24 AMReported by: roving-eye
Lancashire County Council is working on a project to introduce more charging points for people who own electric vehicles.
The council was successful in a bid for £14.8m from the Department for Transport's Highway Maintenance Challenge Fund to invest in new technology, with some of the budget set aside to make it easier for drivers of electric cars to find somewhere to charge their batteries.
The scheme aims to establish at least 150 new charging points by March 2018.
Officers who are working on the project recently arranged to borrow a BMW i3 and Nissan Leaf for a few days to get a better feel for what it's like to own an electric vehicle.
County Councillor John Fillis, cabinet member for highways and transport, said: "The government has provided councils with the funding to establish many more charging points, and we're now doing the groundwork to add significantly to the existing network.
"We're working with district councils and our neighbours in Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool to create a network that electric vehicle users in this area can sign up to and be sure they're never too far away from a charging point.
"Our aim is to help give people the confidence to consider buying an electric vehicle by making it easy to find a charging point reasonably nearby, wherever you are.
"By loaning these vehicles for a few days our officers have learnt a lot about what we need to do to accomplish this, and I hope these futuristic-looking vehicles will become a more common sight in what will be an ever-greener Lancashire."
The county council will be going out to tender this year to secure a contract provider for the charging machines and supporting back-office technology – it is hoped the first charging points will be installed in early 2017.
The funding received from the DfT for new technology is also being used to replace old streetlights with new LED lights and is expected to result in energy savings of £500,000 this year.
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Your Comments:
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Promoting the use of electric vehicles is great, however it would be far better if the cost of these vehicles was cut in half, so that ordinary folk may have a chance of being able to afford one.
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" futuristic " ? Like the C5?
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Those Tesla's are seriously cool though.
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How long a full charge lasts on one of these vehicles, will ultimately be the clincher to whether they are a success or failure.........oh & the initial cost of course.
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It's always the same with new tech the initial wave is generally out of reach of most people. As they become more readily available we'll see a massive drop. I've just bought a VR headset for my freelance work and that was quite expensive but will see a significant drop in price soon enough.
Incidentally Norway gets a lot of assistance from the government for those wanting electric cars and they are banning the sale of fossil fuel vehicles in 2025.
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