£4.1m for fully electric licenced taxis in Bradford
Grant funding available for running costs of fully electric hackney carriage or private hire vehicles operating in city’s Clean Air Zone.
Bradford already boasts the cleanest taxi fleet in the country, with 99% of the 4,800 licenced taxi and private hire fleet meeting the city’s Clean Air Zone standard. The taxi trade has been proactive in this area – but there’s an appetite to do more.
Photo by markjhemmings9
In a recent trade survey of the Bradford district, more than two-thirds of the 1,200 respondents (67.6%) are considering driving a fully electric hackney carriage or private hire vehicle.
There are already some 200,000 electric vehicle (EV) journeys in Bradford each month. Benefits of EVs include savings in fuel costs and lower servicing and maintenance costs. EVs also emit zero emissions, making them healthier for the environment – and for the driver. Other benefits include a reduction in noise.
City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council is keen to support more drivers of licenced vehicles making the transition to EVs, hence applications are now open for the new grant scheme.
To be eligible, applicants choose to either purchase or take out a long-term lease, with a minimum of two years from the time the grant is signed and returned. Thoe who have already upgraded to other compliant vehicle types such as petrol/electric hybrids can apply for a top-up grant to go fully electric. The grant funding will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
The grant will be increased for non-wheelchair accessible vehicles from £6,000 over two years up to £10,000 over two years, bringing it into line with the hackney carriage and wheelchair accessible private hire vehicle EV grants.
Cllr Sarah Ferriby, Executive Member for Healthy People and Places at Bradford Council, says: ‘We recognise that there is a desire from the taxi trade to switch to fully electric vehicles. We want to further support the taxi trade by offering up to £10,000 per vehicle in grant funding to assist proprietors with the running costs of a fully electric hackney carriage or private hire vehicle. This is the highest grant of this type in the UK.’
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