Nissan, manufacturer of the world’s best-selling electric vehicle, the Nissan LEAF, and Ecotricity, who operate Europe’s biggest and most comprehensive rapid charging network, the Electric Highway, have called on the UK government to introduce official road signage for the UK’s growing number of standard and rapid EV charging points.
Despite there being more than 9,000 EV charging points nationwide, there is still no official, recognisable signage available to direct motorists to them – even though there are official signs for “migratory toad crossings”, of which there are only 140 across the UK.
Nissan and Ecotricity claim the time is right for the new UK Government to take action and raise awareness of the UK’s EV infrastructure by introducing universal symbols that can be used to designate the different types of EV charging points available on Britain’s roadways, notably standard and rapid chargers.
The campaign will be calling on key influencers in the motoring and sustainability sector to share their views on the UK’s electric vehicle charging network in order to encourage the Department for Transport and Office for Low Emission Vehicles to take action.
Speaking at the campaign launch, Jim Wright, Managing Director, Nissan Motor (GB) Ltd, explained: “At Nissan we believe that all electric driving offers a number of benefits to UK motorists and should be made accessible to all. That is why we have partnered with Ecotricity to call on the new Government to give electric vehicles the prominence they now deserve and introduce official signage for charging points across the UK.”
Ecotricity founder Dale Vince said: “Both the cars and the infrastructure are in place to support the electric car revolution in Britain – there are Electric Highway pumps at almost every motorway services, while companies like Nissan are developing top quality electric cars.
“It’s time to introduce charging point road signs in Britain – they’ll provide necessary direction for the thousands of electric car drivers in Britain as well as increasing public awareness that the infrastructure is ready for them to make the move to an electric car.
“Over the past four years, we’ve installed Europe’s most advanced electric car charging network right here in Britain – it has 250 pumps, 20,000 members and over 10 million emission free miles driven since its inception.
“The growth so far in 2015 has been phenomenal – over a million miles driven on the network every month. The argument for road signs could not be stronger.”
Ecotricity recently revealed that Electric Highway members have now driven over 15 million miles since the charging network’s inception in 2011, with that number now growing by nearly 2 million miles a month and over 1,000 new registrations each month.
Nissan has sold more than 11,500 all electric Nissan LEAFs since the vehicle was launched in the UK, and almost 200,000 worldwide, in 2011 and 2010 respectively.
Nissan’s current electric vehicle line-up includes the 100% electric Nissan LEAF and the e-NV200 van, providing a sustainable solution in the commercial vehicle sector. To date, Nissan LEAF and e-NV200 owners have covered more than one billion all-electric miles.
