Electric vehicle use in Greater Manchester has rocketed over the past twelve months.
The Greater Manchester Electric Vehicle Scheme (GMEV), led by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), provides access to more than 300 strategically located charging points across all 10 Greater Manchester districts.
December’s figures (3,411 charging sessions) were almost twice that of December 2014 (1,732) – and over 2015 as a whole there were almost three times as many charging sessions than in 2014 (28,744 / 10,174).
Collectively, those sessions drew more than 250,000kWh of power: enough to fully charge a 21kWh electric car battery 11,000 times and travel 880,000 miles – equivalent to driving around the circumference of the Earth more than 35 times!
The number of new drivers registered with GMEV has also increased from 48 in 2013 – when the scheme launched – to 956 in 2015.
The three most-used charge points over the last 12 months were at the Trafford Centre (over 21,000 kWh over 2,700 charging sessions), the John Dalton Building at Manchester Metropolitan University (18,000 kWh over 1,700 sessions), and the multi storey car park at MediaCityUK (12,000 kWh over 1,200 sessions).
The average time a driver plugs in for per session in Greater Manchester is just over two hours.
Dave Newton, TfGM’s Transport Strategy Director, said: “It’s great to see that the GMEV scheme is growing ever more successful, with charging sessions almost trebling and registrations surging over the past year.
“There are so many benefits to using electric or hybrid vehicles in cities and towns. These low emission vehicles are cleaner and quieter than ordinary cars, improving air quality, reducing noise pollution and lowering carbon emissions.
“Crucially, electric vehicles are also cheaper to run, so they can be a great option for commuters and for business vehicle fleets.
“That’s why we’ll continue to work with the government and with industry to ensure that Greater Manchester has a strong electric vehicle infrastructure.”
The £2.1m GMEV scheme was funded by the Office of Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) and from local funding streams. It also has private sector partners including NCP, Manchester Central, Manchester Metropolitan University, Salford University and intu Trafford Centre, who provide their own charging points to supplement the network.
The GMEV network is operated by Charge Your Car, which manages payments and access to the GMEV scheme on TfGM’s behalf.
For more information on GMEV, visit www.ev.tfgm.com.
