A new National Chargepoint Registry is to map the charging locations across the country, as part of government plans to make it easier for motorists to make the switch to electric cars.
Announced today by Transport Minister Norman Baker and Business Minister Mark Prisk, the new registry is to be developed by UK charging points manufacturer POD Point. It will serve as a publicly-accessible database of chargepoints available across the UK and will be complimented by a new system – the Central Whitelist – which will be created to make it easier for motorists to access each chargepoint without having to sign up to new schemes each time they charge in a different location.
Norman Baker said: “We know there is public appetite out there for plug-in vehicles and as government we’re doing everything possible to make them a real option for both motorists and industry.
“This Registry will get us away from the mind-set of; will I, won’t I get there? And I’m sure that public and private chargepoint owners alike will get behind the initiative because the more information we have up there the more motorists will be encouraged to make the switch to electric.”
Flora Heathcote, Commercial Director POD Point said: “We are delighted to be selected by OLEV (Office of Low Emission Vehicles) to create the central charge point network, and believe this cements our position as the leading developer of charge point management systems in Europe.”
The development of the registry and whitelist is part of the Government’s Infrastructures Strategy, which was published earlier this year. POD Point has been awarded a contract worth £89k to host the data on a server, and are creating systems that will allow plug-in vehicle recharging schemes to easily upload and download information.
The Central Whitelist will be a registry of membership card information for different recharging membership schemes (e.g. for regional schemes such as the Plugged-In Places). Both the whitelist and registry systems are due to go live early next year.
