Alternative-fuel projects win BIS funding

28 July 2010

A private business in Essex, three councils across Yorkshire and the West Midlands, a public body co-ordinating transport in Merseyside and a community group on the Isle of Lewis are all winners in the latest round of support from the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Grant Programme (AFIGP).

The six projects will install infrastructure to support public- and private-sector fleets in trialing natural-gas, bio-gas and electric vehicles, including buses, HGVs and refuse-collection vehicles. 

The projects offer the potential for fleet users to demonstrate cost and carbon savings, as well as making significant local air-quality improvements. 

The £660,000 BIS funding is in addition to the £500,000 already committed by the Department for Transport earlier in the year.

’Low-carbon vehicles provide significant benefits − reducing CO₂ emissions and improving air quality − but we need adequate refuelling points if the market for these vehicles is to grow,’ said transport minister Norman Baker. ’These projects will help to make low-carbon vehicles a viable alternative for businesses and individuals.’

Since 2009, funded projects include two hydrogen refuelling stations, five biogas stations and four electric-vehicle projects.