Electric car charging points at Charnock Richard services (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Electric car charging points at Charnock Richard services

3:00pm Wednesday 23rd November 2011 in Chorley

Charnock Richard service station has installed pioneering charging points for electric cars.

The M6 services now has two such points on either carriageway which will top up the battery in 20 minutes or fully charge in two hours.

It means electric car drivers can now travel between the Lake District to Liverpool and Manchester without fear of running out of power.

Ecotricity opened two new charging points as part of the world’s first national charging network.

The Electric Highway now has charging points at ten Welcome Break motorway services around the country on the M6, M40, M1, M5, M4 and M25, all powered by wind and solar farms.

This breakthrough in electric vehicle infrastructure removes one of the main barriers for people wanting to buy electric cars, so called ‘range anxiety’, with people afraid to leave their home town or city and drive on the motorway for fear of running out of power.

Dale Vince OBE, founder of Ecotricity, said: “People have asked why we are building this Electric Highway when there are only about 2,000 electric cars on the road today.

"In fact that’s a big part of the reason – a lack of demand. “It’s often said that one of the reasons more people don't buy electric cars is because of a lack of charging facilities – while the reason more charging facilities aren’t built is because not enough people are buying electric cars – classic chicken and egg stuff.

"We’re hoping to break that impasse.

“We’re creating the infrastructure to get Britain’s electric car revolution moving.”

It costs just over 1p a mile for electric vehicles, compared to 15p in a petrol car at today’s prices.