Transport Minister Baroness Kramer is in Wiltshire today (30 October 2014) to see for herself how the county is preparing its towns for plug-in vehicles.
Supported by a £225,000 government grant, Wiltshire Council is installing rapid chargepoints across the county which can top up a plug-in car or van in just 20 minutes.
The units are at key sites near major routes in Salisbury, Warminster, Melksham, Trowbridge, Corsham and Chippenham and the council has provided match funding of £75,000 towards the project.
The network was officially opened by Baroness Kramer at the Corsham chargepoint.
Baroness Kramer said:
More and more people are switching to plug-in vehicles, with more than 5,000 sold in the last 3 months. We need the right infrastructure to keep building that momentum. Providing charge points like these means people can be confident that they can charge their car when they are out and about.
All new vehicles are expected to have some kind of ULEV element by 2040. There has been a steady rise in the number of people taking up low emission vehicles, as more models become available and the nationwide network of charging points continues to expand. Driving costs are as low as 2p per mile.
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