Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made a comparative assessment of the (a) costs and (b) benefits of (i) hydrogen and (ii) electricity as energy sources to power motor vehicles.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
In 2018, the Department for Transport published the outputs of the Transport Energy Model. The model provides a clear assessment of the relative environmental impacts of a range of fuel and powertrain options for cars, vans, buses and heavy goods vehicles over the period to 2050, including battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The Department is further assessing the potential role of hydrogen and electricity in vehicles and this will be published in the Transport Decarbonisation Plan by Spring 2021.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps his Department has taken to support the roll-out of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in Dudley.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
We have doubled the funding available for the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCs) to £10 million. This scheme provides grant funding to local authorities looking to install chargepoints for residents that lack off-street parking.
In October last year, the Secretary of State wrote to all LAs encouraging them to send their strategies for infrastructure deployment and to take advantage of ORCS funding.
For major roads the Government is providing £500 million over the next five years to support the rollout of a fast-charging network for electric vehicles, ensuring that drivers will never be further than 30 miles from a rapid charging station. Our jointly funded £400 million Chargepoint Infrastructure Investment fund’s first investment round, worth a total of £70 million, will also ensure the delivery of a further 3,000 rapid charging devices across the UK by 2024, more than doubling the current number of rapid charging devices.
Homeowners and businesses in Dudley (as with the rest of the country) will continue to be able to apply for grants in 2020/2021 to help with the purchase of an electric vehicle (via HMG’s Plug-in Car Grant) and for help with installing an electric vehicle chargepoint (via either HMG’s Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme or Workplace Charging Scheme).
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve bus connectivity between rural areas of the West Midlands.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
In September 2019 £220 million was announced to improve bus connectivity, including £30 million to restore and improve bus services and £20 million to trial demand responsive transport pilots in rural areas. £5 billion was also committed in February 2020 to transform bus services and cycling links, with further details to be announced in the National Bus Strategy.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans the Government has to ensure the continuation of public transport services during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Everyone should do what they can to stop coronavirus spreading.
We are encouraging everyone to stop non-essential contact with others and to stop all unnecessary travel.
However, it is vital that our public transport services continue to run in order to ensure that critical workers can get to work, and that the country can return to normal life once this epidemic is over.
We are in daily contact with transport providers across all modes and will do whatever we can to ensure vital public services continue throughout this period.
We will continue to anticipate and adapt to needs as the situation develops, as demonstrated by the extensive package of measures the Chancellor has announced to support the economy.