Some of the participants in the UK Government’s electric car trial have expressed their enthusiasm at earning funding to be part of the scheme.

Smart, part of the Mercedes Benz group, has earned £2.5million in funding from the Technology Strategy Board and is inviting applicants to take part in two electric drive research trials: one in London and the South East and one in the West Midlands.

According to Dermot Kelly, managing director of Mercedes Benz, the funding is testimony to Smart’s hard work in the field over several years.

“Smart has been conducting real-life trials of 100 electric cars with partner companies across the country since 2007,” he said. “The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and this has been instrumental in our decision to put the car into small series production and bring another 100 cars to the UK early in 2010.”

The BMW Group will also be supplied a portion of the £25million fund, which will enable the MINI E to be introduced on to Britain’s roads before the end of 2009.

Initially MINI E models will be on the UK’s streets as part of a 12month trial that will evaluate both the social and technical aspects of living with an all electric vehicle in the real world.

The company is set to bring together both an energy infrastructure provider and an academic partner to make the research programme a reality.