Low-carbon vehicle technology

Given the upsurge of interest in electric cars and other low-carbon vehicles, the BVRLA wants to ensure that the rental and leasing sectors play a key role in encouraging the take up of this less environmentally harmful technology. The association has formed a group of experts on low-carbon vehicles to help shape government policy and is keen to hear from members who would like to contribute – please contact Amanda Brandon for further details.

Pros and cons

The feedback we have received so far indicates that electric vehicles could provide savings in terms of fuel costs and servicing as there are less moving parts. However, the high purchase cost of these vehicles and the battery far outweigh these benefits. Other key concerns which have been expressed are the reliability of the battery and the battery technology, the ability to service and repair vehicles and availability of parts. In addition, it is very difficult to set a residual value for these vehicles and ensure the second buyer is suitably incentivised to purchase.

Plug-in car grant

The Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) has announced plans to introduce a Plug-in Car Grant to provide 25% towards the cost of purchasing a new ultra-low carbon car, capped at £5,000. It will be open to private and business fleet buyers. The grant will be available from January 2011 and will operate in the same way as the scrappage scheme so the discount will be given off the purchase price and claimed back by the manufacturer. Vehicles which are eligible for the scheme will need to meet the following criteria:

Vehicle type - The vehicle must be powered by battery electric with zero co2 emissions, plug-in hybrid with 75g/km co2 emissions or a hydrogen fuel cell car. The vehicle must have a minimum range of 70 miles for an electric vehicle or 10 miles on the battery for a plug-in electric with a maximum speed of at least 60mph.
Warranty - There must be 3 year warranty for the vehicle and the battery, with an option to extend the battery warranty to 5 years at a cost to the customer. The battery must retain a reasonable degree of performance after a 3 year period.
Safety - The vehicle must have European Whole Vehicle Type Approval or be crash tested to acceptable international standards.

The BVRLA will now be working with the Government to develop key communication messages on operating electric vehicles including costs and benefits. To view our previous comments on the proposals for the grant click here.

Contact:
Amanda Brandon, amanda@bvrla.co.uk
01494 545701

Plugged in Places

The Office for Low Emission Vehicles is taking forward the £30 million funding which has been made available for cities/regions to bid for the infrastructure development needed to support electric vehicles, e.g. charging points. OLEV have announced the first round of funding and Transport for London, supported by several BVRLA members, have been successful in their bid for funding to support charging points in rental branches within London.

There is a second bid opportunity and expressions of interest have to be submitted by 1 June.

Members who wish to include electric vehicles on their fleet can contact the cities and regions who are bidding for funding to support their bid and get 50% match funding for charging points. To qualify for the match funding the charging points have to be seen as publicly available and the Office for Low Emission Vehicles are happy that rental company branches qualify given the utilisation figures we have provided. This does not mean that your branches would need to allow the charging points to be accessed by any vehicle.

Members may need to convince cities or regions of the benefits of including rental branches as part of their bid and the BVRLA has put together a document which will help you win the argument. It can be accessed from the link below and will need to be populated with your own data.

Winning the argument

This document helped to convince Transport for London and the Office for Low Emission Vehicles that car rental provides an excellent opportunity to get electric vehicles into the hands of the ordinary motorist with no risk.

London Electric Vehicle Partnership

The BVRLA has a seat on the London Electric Vehicle Partnership, formed by London mayor Boris Johnson in 2008 with the aim of encouraging take-up of electric vehicles in the capital. The partnership aims to bring together key stakeholders and decision-makers from within the vehicle manufacturing industry, the London boroughs, the Greater London Authority (GLA) Group, energy and infrastructure suppliers, and electric vehicle users in order to identify the costs and benefits of electric vehicles and to develop an action plan to encourage their greater use.

The partnership has split its work into three sub-groups: marketing, communications and incentives, and infrastructure and vehicles. The GLA has published papers setting out the issues that are relevant for each of these groups – read our comments here.

Transport for London has started the procurement process for ultra low carbon vehicles for their fleet. TfL aims to have 1000 electric or other low carbon technology vehicles on the fleet of the functional bodies that make up the Greater London Authority (GLA family) by 2015.

If members are interested in tendering they need to do so by 5 May 2010. For further details click the link below:

Tender document for GLA

Contact:
Amanda Brandon, amanda@bvrla.co.uk
01494 545701

SMMT Electric Vehicle Working Group

One of the key areas which members have highlighted to us is the importance of the manufacturers representing the needs of their customers when developing electric vehicles. To help us achieve this objective we have been invited by the SMMT to join their electric vehicle working group. The group aims to provide a forum for high-level discussion and development of industry consensus views on strategic, technical and sector-critical issues.

Contact:
Amanda Brandon, amanda@bvrla.co.uk
01494 545701