Newcastle University

Newcastle University has just signed up to the Plugged in Places project which will roll-out electric vehicle charging points across the North East.

The £7.8m project is co-ordinated by One North East and backed by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV). It plans to install a total of 1,300 charging points across the region over the next three years on streets, in car parks, at residential and commercial locations and at retail and leisure facilities.

An ambitious target has been set to install 620 of these charging points by the end of this year, including points on the University’s campus.

The regional bid has received financial backing from over 40 regional public and private sector partners, which have already pledged more than £1m for charging points at their premises.

The North East is set to become the UK’s first ‘wired’ region, with one of the largest networks of charging points in Europe.

As well as establishing charging points, Plugged in Places will also help fund research and development into innovative relevant technologies such as rapid and inductive charging.