Background

North East England has an extensive charging network that will be home to over 1,000 charging points at key locations on streets, in car parks and at residential and commercial locations such as retail and leisure facilities by 2013. The ‘Charge Your Car’ (CYC) scheme and website http://www.chargeyourcar.org.uk/ provides access to this electric vehicle infrastructure and is a project that is being funded by One North East, the Office for Low Emissions Vehicles (OLEV), public and private partners.

‘Charge Your Car’

Membership of Charge your Car is available to all owners and drivers of electric vehicles and enables them to access any of the CYC charging points in North East England.

Membership costs £10 per month or £100 for an annual subscription, for which members will enjoy free parking and free electricity whilst recharging at any of the CYC bays in the region. For further information on becoming a member or to join up to the Charge Your Car scheme please visit: http://www.chargeyourcar.org.uk/registration_form.php

As well as offering opportunities to use the posts, CYC also provides the opportunity to own a charging post. Charging posts allow electric vehicle users to travel through the region much more easily whilst increasing the visibility of EV’s to non EV drivers. The region is currently looking for organisations and businesses who would be interested in owning a post, providing charging opportunities to your staff, your customers and your clients. The CYC scheme is currently providing a 50% grant towards the purchase and installation of standard charging posts – for more information about owning a post please visit: http://www.leadthecharge.org.uk/

Where can I charge?

At present there are currently around 120 charging posts in place, with this number expected to grow to 1,000 by 2013. The charging posts are strategically placed right across the region, helping drivers to get from A to B with posts in areas such as Newcastle, Sunderland, to Berwick in the North and Stockton in the South. The CYC website provides a map of the region showing all available charging points; it is regularly updated and can be viewed at: http://www.chargeyourcar.org.uk/searchmap.php

How to use a charging post

Here is a step by step guide to plugging in your electric car at a charging post;

When plugging in;

When unplugging;