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Electric vehicles

We are keen to encourage the uptake of electric vehicles in St Helens as a less polluting alternative to conventional petrol or diesel engine vehicles.

Electric vehicles offer an equivalent driving experience to conventional vehicles. They have many benefits such as being very cheap to run, as well as potentially improving air quality (nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter emissions are reduced at point of use) and reducing carbon emissions.

Electric vehicles are broken down into three main types:

  • Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) – these rely solely on electricity and can travel between 100 and 300 miles on a single charge. They do not produce any tail pipe emissions. Current examples include the Nissan Leaf, BMW i3, Renault Zoe and Kia Soul.

  • Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) – these are vehicles that have a battery, electric drive motor and an internal combustion engine (ICE). It can be driven using the ICE or the electric drive motor, or both, and can be recharged from an external power source. Typical PHEVs will have a pure electric range of around 30 miles. Once the electric battery is depleted, journeys can still continue in hybrid mode, meaning that there is no range limitation. PHEVs are only efficient if they are regularly charged, otherwise they can be more expensive to run than a conventional petrol or diesel car. Current examples on the market include the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, Audi e-tron and VW Golf GTE.

  • Extended Range EV (E-REV) – these are a version of plug-in hybrids. An E-REV combines a battery, electric drive motor and a small petrol or diesel generator. The electric motor always drives the wheels with the ICE acting as a generator when the battery is depleted. The typical range of E-REVs is between 150-300 miles. An example of an E-REV is the BMW i3 range-extender.

Find more information on your nearest charging point.

Zap Map also provides the location of electric charging points throughout the whole of the UK and Ireland.

More information on electric vehicles can be found on the Energy Saving Trust website.

These grants are administered by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) to help make EV ownership more affordable. Find more information on these grants:

Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS)
The Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme provides grant funding of up to 75% towards the cost of installing electric vehicle chargepoints at domestic properties across the UK. There are a number of conditions for eligibility of receiving this grant; one of these is that the property must have off-street parking.

Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS)
The Workplace Charging Scheme is a voucher-based scheme that provides support towards the up-front costs of the purchase and installation of electric vehicle charging points for eligible businesses, charities and public sector organisations. There is a maximum limit of £300 per socket for up to 20 sockets.

Go Ultra Low is the national campaign for electric vehicles (EVs). It aims to provide all the facts and information drivers need to make an informed decision about switching to an EV, such as:

  • information on available vehicles
  • EV-friendly tariffs
  • guidance on charging at home.

Visit www.goultralow.com for more information.