The government has announced a £20m program to develop and provide electric and low-carbon vans to public sector organisations such as the Royal Mail and the Metropolitan police. Ten companies have been shortlisted to develop a suitable mass-market low-carbon van for the program.

This money is part of a £100m program to develop the infrastructure and technology needed to make widespread use of electric and hybrid vehicles a reality.

Transport secretary Geoff Hoon told the Guardian that the program was a response to the knowledge that “Van emissions are rising more than any other mode of road transport”. The government are hoping that this program will help “kick-start the market [for low-carbon vans]” as there is not currently a suitable model available.

With range and recharging facilities still an issue for all-electric vehicles, my reading of this initiative is that the main goal is self-sufficient, low-emission hybrid vehicles – perhaps along the same lines as the Chevrolet Volt, which has an all-electric powertrain but carries a small petrol engine on board to charge its batteries when needed.

To learn more, see this article in the Guardian and this article on the Fleet News website.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 at 9:26 am and is filed under Alternative Fuels. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.