Electric cars will spark a power surge

A HUGE power boost will be needed if an Oldham-led bid to persuade drivers into electric cars succeeds.

The amount of electricity needed for an electric car to drive 80 miles is the same as an average home’s daily consumption and experts believe that so many drivers will switch over the coming decades that 60 per cent of all mileage will be by electric cars by 2050, creating massive demand.

Oldham Council’s cabinet will meet in June to formalise its position as the lead authority to spend a £3.6m government grant to set up across Greater Manchester 300 fast charging points able to charge a typical vehicle in three to four hours, and five rapid chargers able to charge a vehicle in an astonishing 15 minutes.

One of four PODs, electric car one-stop shops which will showcase vehicles, sell, lease, charge and maintain them, is likely to be at the Hollinwood M60 junction.

And by this autumn, Oldham will also set up a head office where bills for the power motorists use will be processed

However, one of its partners in the project, Electricity North West, is warning that there will have to be a increase in supplies.

Paul Bircham, customer strategy and regulation director for Electricity North West, told the Chronicle: “If all the vehicles coming into Manchester were electric and wanted to charge up, we would need double the supply.”

Electricity North West which bought United Utilities’ electricity assets in 2007, is investing £1.4bn over the next four years to replace equipment which was installed in the 1950s and 60s but its challenge for 2050 is to meet extra demand while meeting the government’s promise to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent.