UK Government has, this year, implemented new policy to force a step change away from reliance on the traditional combustion engine; their ‘Roads to Zero’ strategy predicts that half of all new car sales will be Electric Vehicle (EV) by 2020. Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling, announced this as the “new age of the car”.
Car manufacturers are taking note: Volvo has committed to exclusively plug-in electric cars by 2019, whilst there is now a growing luxury EV market with the likes of Jaguar, BMW and even Porsche following Tesla by making steps to leave the traditional engine behind!
Inevitably, there will be greater emphasis on EV provision in new developments; mode is working closely with both EV providers and developers to consider types of charging point and where they are placed, who is responsible for them as well as their integration with the public realm.
As part of our commitment to EV strategies, we’ve been working onsite at the Elmsbrook ‘Exemplar’ Eco-development, North-West Bicester, Oxfordshire; the challenges of promoting a step change to EV is currently being documented by mode through ongoing Travel Plan Co-ordination.
Our clients have differing EV needs and there are benefits (and differing costs) to the EV technology available at this stage; most EV owners are also likely to need a top-up charge for longer journeys, so charging points in retail car parks may offer the difference between attracting customers or not! Our partnerships with EV suppliers allows us to advise on various on-site options associated with different types of development:
- Residential (Home charging);
- Work places (Destination charging); and
- Retail (En-Route charging).
As EV charging increases in importance, mode is leading the way in incorporating EV strategies into our transport advice and making cases for certain levels of provision in our Transport Assessments; before implementing their delivery through well-considered and actively managed Travel Plans.