Exclusive: Plugged-in Places electric car network gets amber light

The government's upcoming spending review is expected to save the high-profile Plugged-in Places scheme, paving the way for the accelerated rollout of electric car recharging networks in British cities.

Whitehall insiders told BusinessGreen.com that the government has approved the plans "in principle", although details of funding and logistics have yet to be confirmed.

"It's almost been given the nod," said one government source. "The government supports the scheme in principle, but in terms of funding and how it would work, that is to be decided in the spending review."

The Department for Transport has this year awarded £8.8m in match funding to the first three "plugged-in places", financing the rollout of recharging points in London, Milton Keynes and the North East. Under the scheme, the three regions plan to install a total of 2,500 additional charging points in the first year of the rollout and about 11,000 over the next three years.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers (SMMT) said the scheme has already proven highly popular and as a result the West Midlands, Cornwall, Sheffield, the Lake District, Greater Manchester and Northern Ireland are all preparing to bid for the second round of funding if it is approved.

The government is under pressure to protect the scheme after last month taking the unusual step of pre-empting the spending review and confirming that it would retain a proposed incentive scheme offering motorists £5,000 off the price of a new electric car.

Manufacturers that had decided to locate new electric car plants in the UK warned that they could reverse their decision if the government withdrew support designed to boost demand for the technology.

Industry insiders are now warning that while they are reluctant to force the government's hand any further, the effectiveness of the electric car incentives could be undermined if there is not a similar investment in recharging infrastructure through the Plugged-in Places scheme.

A recent report from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders revealed that currently there are just 100 charging points around the UK, although some of those points offer multiple charging hubs. "Thanks to the Plugged-in Places scheme, the number of electric vehicle charging points is due to significantly increase over the next few years," the report predicted.