The locations of Birmingham’s electric vehicle charging points are now available on the city council’s website to aid motorists who need to “fill up”.
In a first for the council the data is also available as a KML file, under a licence which allows others to reuse it, and allowing residents to find the points via their own GPS or SatNav systems.
The charging points have been installed at sites across the city centre by energy firm E.ON as part of the CABLED initiative, which aims to learn more about how electric vehicles can be best utilised as a widespread mode of transport.
Within a couple of hours of the data being made available, it had already been republished on the OpenStreetMap project, whose volunteers have made Birmingham the best-mapped city in the UK.
Cllr Paul Tilsley, Deputy Leader of Birmingham City Council, said: “I am a strong supporter of electric vehicles because they offer us the obvious environmental benefits as well as the economic ones that we can enjoy if Birmingham positions itself at the forefront of the low-carbon revolution.
“This latest innovation is another improvement for the council’s new website that makes it even more relevant and useful for the citizens of Birmingham – which was the aim when we re-launched it last year.
“As equally as important is the fact that this development also is of use to people further afield who may use electric vehicles and need to recharge their batteries while visiting the city.”
To find out more and to download the KML files, visit: www.birmingham.gov.uk/evcp
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. Business Transformation is Birmingham City Council’s ambitious nine-strand programme which aims to modernise and enhance services delivered across the whole authority to citizens. It is projected that the programme will realise benefits of £1billion over the ten years to 2016.
2. Customer First is one of nine programmes which make up Birmingham City Council’s ambitious Business Transformation programme, and will help deliver a range of improvements giving residents world-class standards of customer service. As part of the wider package, Customer First will provide simpler and easier ways of accessing council services, a single ‘0121’ telephone number to access all council services, and a brand new user-friendly city council web site personalised for customers. First-time resolution for 80 per cent of enquiries and an increase in customer satisfaction from 59 to 85 per cent are key drivers behind the programme.
3. CABLED – short for Coventry and Birmingham Low Emission Demonstrators – is made up of 13 organisations that will develop and demonstrate 110 road-worthy vehicles to be trialled in the two cities over 12 months. The 13 organisations are Arup, Aston University, Birmingham City Council, University of Birmingham, Coventry City Council, Coventry University, E.ON, Jaguar Landrover, LTI Vehicles, Micro Cab, Mitsubishi Motors, Smart, Tata. CABLED is the largest of eight consortia from across the UK to participate in the £25 million Technology Strategy Board’s Ultra Low Carbon Vehicle Demonstrator competition as well as being the first to begin vehicle trials. The aim of the project is to find out how the cars are used – and when they need charging – to get a better idea of the driver’s experience of electrical cars. Regional Development Agency Advantage West Midlands has supported the CABLED consortium from the start and has invested £2.5million in the project, ensuring the Region’s participation in the competition. More information can be found at www.cabled.org.uk
4. E.ON is working with CABLED to provide the charging infrastructure for the project’s electric vehicles. In addition, E.ON Engineering is carrying out work to understand and manage the impact of electric vehicle charging on the distribution network. E.ON is one of the UK’s leading power and gas companies – generating and distributing electricity, and retailing power and gas – and is part of the E.ON group, one of the world’s largest investor-owned power and gas companies.
For further information contact Kris Kowalewski on 0121 303 3621
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