Electric car boost for Birmingham
Electric cars will soon be running on city streets after it was announced today that Birmingham (and Coventry) had been successful in their bid to run electric car demonstrators on their city’s streets.
The Technology Strategy Board, gave approval to a pioneering bid put together by Birmingham and Coventry City Councils and AWM to roll out 110 electric cars across Birmingham and Coventry.
Cllr Gregory, Cabinet Member for Transportation and Street Services, today said:
“Birmingham is the home of car manufacturing in the UK and I am really pleased to see the City leading the way in demonstrating the value of electric cars to our city. I want to see not just hundreds, but thousands of electric vehicles of all types running in Birmingham over the next decade. This will make our city quieter and also bring big benefits to our air quality.”
The City Council has been working with Arup, EoN Energy, Mitsubishi, Tata, Mercedes Smart, JLR, Microcab, and LTI - the London taxi company - to develop this, the largest roll out demonstration scheme in the UK to date.
The scheme builds on the excellent work being undertaken by the University of Birmingham in developing the hydrogen fuel cell Microcab car, and an additional hydrogen filling station will be built in Coventry to promote electric travel between the cities.
New electric charging points will be provided in key locations in the city, and in some car parks and office buildings to support the demonstrations.
The cars will start running in January 2010, and discussions are taking place with partners to demonstrate the cars.
The project also builds on individual electric cars already operating in the city managed by the City Council, Aston University and Amey plc.
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