30 June 2010
The Northern EchoDeborah Johnson
A FLEET of electric vehicles is to be launched in the North- East as part of a UK-leading trial.
The Switch EV project, which will make 35 passenger vehicles available to individuals and businesses across the region, was launched yesterday, and was hailed as another key step in making the region a world-leader in electric vehicles.
Among the fleet will be the first Nissan Leaf cars to hit the roads in the UK – the car which will be produced at the Japanese firm’s Sunderland plant – and an electric taxi made by Washington-based Smith Electric Vehicles, part of Tanfield Group.
The launch of the threeyear, £10.8m Switch EV project comes only weeks after it was confirmed that 1,300 charging points will be installed across the North-East through the £7.8m Plugged In Places initiative.
Chris Pywell, head of strategic economic change at regional development agency One North East, said: “The low-carbon vehicles sector has put the North-East on the international map in the past 12 months and this unique trial will be a major step forward for the development of electric vehicles in the UK.
“Switch EV will give people in the North-East the first chance to travel in these innovative vehicles, all developed by companies in the North-East.
“Alongside our advanced infrastructure of 1,300 charging points, these vehicles will help demonstrate to drivers that the switch to low-carbon transport is a serious, viable option.”
Vehicles through the Switch EV initiative will start appearing on the roads from September, and individuals and businesses can trial them for up to six months at a time.
The project has been in development since June last year, and will build on the experiences of trials that have been taking place as part of the collaboration between Cenex, the UK’s Centre of Excellence for Low Carbon and Fuel Cell Technologies, and One North East.
The Transport Operations and Research Group at the University of Newcastle will be working with Cramlington- based company Comesys to record and analyse performance data from all of the Switch EV vehicles.
The data will demonstrate the battery and recharging performance from the cars, as well as looking at behaviour change over the six-month trial period, which is being managed by Newcastle-based Future Transport Systems.
For more about the trial, and technical information, go to switchev.co.uk, email info @futuretransportsystems.co.uk