[Kevin Sharpe]

Here are the details from an OLEV statement published today...

As you know, in the 2013 spending round the Government allocated £500 million to support the early market for ultra low emission vehicles (ULEVs) in the period 2015-2020. Following the call for evidence process and detailed discussions with stakeholders, the Government has now finalised key elements of its preferred support package which includes:

·At least £200m for the continuation of the plug-in car grant;
·The grant to stay at £5,000 per car until 2017, or the first 50,000 vehicles, whichever is the sooner;
·Over £30m for other ULEV types including vans;
·£100m for ULEV-specific R&D;
·£35m for a new city scheme competition;
·£20m for ULEV taxis;
·£30m for low emission buses;
·£32m for infrastructure including rapid chargers;
·£4m for HGV gas refuelling infrastructure

Unfortunately, OLEV also said "The announcement does not allocate all of the £500m, for example, we are positioning the UK to be a lead market for introduction of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and will announce later this summer actions that both Government and industry will be taking to achieve this"

If you'd like to know more then start here;

https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...s-to-support-use-and-development-2015-to-2020

 

[Paul]

We must have all responded "yes, hydrogen is the future" then. Or maybe companies and their lobbying are more powerful than the people who pay for and elect government agencies and their masters...

 

[Hoa Tu]

We must have all responded "yes, hydrogen is the future" then. Or maybe companies and their lobbying are more powerful than the people who pay for and elect government agencies and their masters...

Hydrogen makes perfect sense in order to control the car fuel tax rates.

 

[Matt Beard]

134 responses were received from a range of
organisations and individuals, including vehicle manufacturers, supply
chain companies, trade associations, academics and local authorities.
The summary below gives an overview of the key themes that emerged
from the responses.
...
A strong case was also suggested in several responses for Government
support to encourage early investment in hydrogen refuelling
infrastructure as hydrogen fuel cell vehicles come to market from 2015.

Those "several" of 134 must have made very lucrative persuasive arguments!

 

[Edd Beesley]

"£32m for infrastructure including rapid chargers;"

Well that's good! Please give it all to ecotricity as they seem to know what they're doing.

 

[PaulMorris]

...... Or maybe companies and their lobbying are more powerful than the people who pay for and elect government agencies and their masters...

Don't doubt that for a minute. Corporate Political Activity is something the motor industry and the oil industry have down to a fine art. Hydrogen still has production, supply, distribution, retail demands that gives most of the industry players a slice of the pie if they diversify.

 

[Paul]

At the MINI E launch I had BMW chiefs telling me Hydrogen was the future. Somehow they just seem to know these things...

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

Please give it all to ecotricity as they seem to know what they're doing.

Nah, give it to Tesla to manage (as the deputy PM suggested) so that we get a mixture of real 135kW rapids and slower 50kW rapids from a company that can deliver reliable solutions

 

[Paul]

Maybe they could fund Speak EV for only a few hundred thousand or so, then I could do this full time and even get some stickers and such sorted sooner.

 

[Edd Beesley]

Nah, give it to Tesla to manage (as the deputy PM suggested) so that we get a mixture of real 135kW rapids and slower 50kW rapids from a company that can deliver reliable solutions

Also a sensible suggestion.

I do worry that the vision is lacking in some cases. I mean, the future is EV, right? So what does that actually look like for infrastructure. I think it looks like the 6 or so petrol pumps at each motorway services (each serving a driver with ~400 miles range in 5 minutes) needs to become 40 or so rapid chargers, (each serving a driver about 400 miles range in about 30 minutes). Not only does that mean rearranging all the parking bays to hit the chargers in a sensible way, (to allow for queueing etc in a fair way) it also needs 40 200kw power connections, that's 8 megawatts. And yet we have sites today where putting in a 50kw charger is not possible....

 

[Paul_Moxhay]

Well, it could have been a lot worse and it is clear that OLEV have listened to a lot of what we drivers have been saying.

Clearly they recognise the importance of matching type of charging infrastructure to location.

They seem to be taking on board the importance of national planning of the UK charging network such that a review of where funding might be targeted to provide a truly national network.

I am concerned at the statements regarding the National Chargepoint Registry (NCR) and infrastructure maintenance though.

The report suggested that all grant-funded charge points must be on the NCR. This is currently not happening and it would be good to see that enforced/implemented.

The report also stated that all grant-funded charge points must be maintained and made available for 3 years. Clearly this is not being enforced. In fact, is it even being monitored or policed in any way? The evidence of long-term faulty charge points suggests not.

I am disappointed in a number of other ways over some of the report findings and omissions:

No mention at all of fees and charges for use of charging infrastructure or a commitment to ensure that charging infrastructure is available to all drivers, at a sensible price, ensuring genuine PAYG charging and reducing reliance on membership schemes and RFID cards.

The statement on Hydrogen I see as promising. There was actually very little detail said in the report about hydrogen and although they are investigating how they could help develop the hydrogen market there was no funding commitment amount mentioned at this stage. This is a positive sign that OLEV do not yet have a clear funding strategy regarding hydrogen and that is no surprise given that the reality of commercially available HFCV is still a long way off and the benefits dubious or unclear.

Overall, not a bad outcome IMO but the proof of the pudding is in the eating. This is a high-level report and there are millions of pounds of taxpayers money being allocated in broad terms here on our behalf. Who is ensuring that it is being spent wisely? That is my concern.

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

it also needs 40 200kw power connections, that's 8 megawatts. And yet we have sites today where putting in a 50kw charger is not possible....

local energy storage is the only scalable solution and Tesla fully get that... when combined with local wind and solar generation then the future is very bright indeed

 

[Matthew Morgan]

local energy storage is the only scalable solution and Tesla fully get that... when combined with local wind and solar generation then the future is very bright indeed

Car parks covered with solar canopies and local power storage underground = future