1st National Clean Air Day marked by funding announcement for City Region electric vehicle charge points

THE 1st National Clean Air Day (NCAD) took place, on Thursday, 15 June 2017 and was marked in the Liverpool City Region by the announcement of a ₤110K fund to supply and install electric vehicle charge points (EVCs) at business premises across the City Region.  Any member of Merseytravel's free to join Employers' Network will be eligible to apply for the grant of up to ₤5,000 for the supply and installation of electric vehicle charge points, provided for the exclusive use of their staff, visitors, company pool and fleet vehicles, with no match funding required.  This initiative follows the ongoing success of Recharge, a network of charging points at key locations to support electric vehicle (EV) travel throughout the Liverpool City Region. The most recent of which is due to be installed in Prescot within weeks, bringing the total number of publically available charging points across the region to 54.

Cllr Liam Robinson, chair of The Combined Authority Transport Committee, which oversees the work of Merseytravel said:- "The Merseytravel Employers Network allows businesses to promote more sustainable travel choices to their staff, including public transport, walking and cycling, so being able to offer grants for workplace charge points is a great way to extend this support and encourage some drivers to switch to electric vehicles."

The funding has been made available through the Growth Deal via the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to support the region's low carbon initiatives to provide cleaner air and encourage greater use and purchasing of electric vehicles.  Further details about the grants can be found on the Merseytravel website.