It’s been an exciting couple of weeks for green mobility and air quality champions in the UK following a number of local and national government announcements. We’ve sifted through all of the chatter to bring you the highlights from the last two weeks.
We’ll start with the big one: the long speculated decision to bring forward the ban the sale of new ICE cars and vans to 2030 as part of a “green industrial revolution” has been confirmed. This includes funding for the rollout of charge points, buyer grants and incentives, and for development and production of electric vehicle (EV) batteries to combat the barriers of range anxiety and vehicle cost.
We recently took out our microscope to one group in the throes of their EV transition – fleets, to unpick the challenges they, and the cities they operate in face in achieving the government’s green revolution. You can read contributions from Uber, Transport for West Midlands, and more in our eBook: Leading the Charge – Are cities ready for fleet led EV revolution?
In anticipation of another challenge brought about by a switch to EVs, the Treasury is looking to methods to recoup fuel duty revenue losses, which could be as much as £40bn. One solution being considered is road user charging (RUC), where motorists pay directly to use the roads. The “usage-based” model is one that is increasingly pointed to by governments, and was also addressed in Centre for London’s report on parking and kerb pricing to which AppyWay contributed.
Finally, progress continues to speed along for micro-mobility and active travel in the UK, following the release of the second tranche of funding for active travel for England from the DfT and the announcement that TfL is now opening competition for e-scooter trials in 2021. Both come with heavy conditions for consultations by local authorities. Regarding the trials, TfL will be working closely with the boroughs interested in participating on how they will be managed, including one sticking point with shared e-scooters globally – parking!
Thankfully this is something that our Traffic suite of traffic and moving order management tools is primed and ready to tackle for our local authority partners. Click here for more on Traffic by AppyWay.
From charge points to cycle lanes to scooter parking, the demand on the kerbside is increasing and becoming more diversified, with councils needing to balance demand and supply. We’re only at the beginning of the government’s “green industrial revolution” and much has yet to be revealed about how these initiatives will be rolled out in a scalable way. We know councils and infrastructure providers are poised and ready for the funding to be released, here at AppyWay we’re ready when they are to help smooth the pathway to a greener future.
For more information on AppyWay or to talk to our City Partnerships team, contact us here.
