Electric vehicles promoted

THE SCOTTISH Government is teaming up with industry leaders and environmental campaigners in a new drive to get more electric cars on the roads.

Transport Minister Keith Brown has launched the E-Cosse partnership which brings together government body Transport Scotland with car manufacturers, power companies, local councils and environmental charity WWF Scotland.

Mr Brown said the new group would "develop a shared vision and set future priorities to promote the uptake of electric vehicles in Scotland".

E-Cosse will promote the benefits of electric vehicles, which can be cheap to run and are exempt from road tax, to a wider audience.

Electric vehicles also help reduce carbon emissions, improve air quality and cut noise pollution.

Over the past two years the Scottish Government has spent £8 million to allow the purchase of 270 greener vehicles.

An existing scheme, Plugged-In Places Scotland which installs vehicle charging points, has been expanded from covering its original target area of the central belt to take in all of Scotland.

It has put in charging points in households, workplaces and public places, with 74 installed in 2010-11, 240 in 2011-12 and a further 170 planned for 2012-13.

Dr Sam Gardner, senior climate change policy officer at WWF Scotland, hailed the E-Cosse partnership as "an exciting initiative that brings together the expertise and enthusiasm of key stakeholders to help jump-start Scotland's electric vehicle revolution".

WWF Scotland will create an electric vehicle strategy board, made up of senior figures from government and industry, to promote policies and programmes that support the use of such vehicles.

Work will be done with Transport Scotland to help develop priorities and actions which could lead to the wholesale adoption of electric vehicles.

The partnership includes Nissan, Allied Vehicles, Dundee City Council, ScottishPower and SSE, as well as Siemens, Serco, Axeon and the University of Strathclyde.

Gordon McGregor, energy and environment director at ScottishPower, welcomed the established of E-Cosse and said: "The new body will be able to link together a high-level government strategy with new priorities and projects to increase the uptake of electric vehicles.

"We look forward to seeing the outcome of the partnership between central government, industry and the public sector deliver progress in EV (electric vehicle) awareness, infrastructure, accessibility and the development of common standards.

"Scotland has a big opportunity in the move towards electric vehicles. Widespread adoption of EVs can deliver lower levels of pollution, lower cost for users and can harness the benefit of Scottish renewable electricity production."

By Katrine Bussey, Press Association