In fewer than 100 days’ time, Oxford will host a two-day Electric Vehicle Summit - bringing together key leaders and players from across the electric vehicle and charging infrastructure industry.
The event, which will take place from Wednesday 4 July to Thursday 5 July at the Saїd Business School is organised by Oxford City Council, with partners Green TV and Electric Drives.
It is hoped that the summit will encourage practical actions to implement international, national and local policy, gain finance, change attitudes and accelerate technology improvement to encourage electric vehicle take up.
The industry event will be an opportunity for those involved in developing and commissioning electric transport to come together to discuss relevant issues and topics - both current and future.
Day one of the summit will have an international focus and address the wider stories and developments around Electric Vehicles. This will include how to finance development, identify technical solutions, drive positive attitudinal change, and build the necessary infrastructure.
Day two will focus on how countries and cities can take practical actions to drive the uptake of electric vehicles. This will include how policy framework can help cities to embrace change and grasp the benefits of electric vehicles.
Speakers will include leaders from across the industry and private sector, as well as representatives from global companies BMW, Nissan and the Oxfordshire based TECHEETAH Formula E team. Other organisations attending will include Bank of America, Triodos Bank, Go Ultra Low and Good Energy.
Oxford City Council is committed to encouraging electric vehicle take up.
In order to tackle harmful air pollution levels across Oxford, Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council announced plans in October 2017 to introduce the world’s first Zero Emission Zone in Oxford city centre.
The zone will ban all emitting vehicles in phrases, starting with some vehicle types and a small number of streets in 2020 and, as vehicle technology develops, moves to all vehicle types across the whole city centre in 2035.
Its full implementation would take air pollution levels in Oxford city centre down to near-background levels. For example in the city centre’s most polluted street, George Street, a 74 per cent reduction in toxic nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels is expected by 2035.
Oxford City Council, supported by Oxfordshire County Council, also recently secured funding from government to:
- Purchase electric vehicles for Covered Market traders (£200,000)
- introduce the first fully electric double-decker buses to Oxford later this year (£1.7 million)
- install charging points for electric taxis (£500,000)
- install over 100 electric vehicle charging points for Oxford residents to support the zone’s implementation (£800,000).
The Government announced plans in July 2017 to ban all new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2040.
Councillor Susan Brown, Leader of Oxford City Council said: “Oxford has been leading the way with electric vehicle technology and adopting measures to support the introduction of the world’s first Zero Emission Zone in 2020. We have been working with local businesses and suppliers, as well as global leaders in Electric Vehicle technology.
“This summit will provide an opportunity for key players in electric vehicle technology to come together and discuss its future in Oxford, the UK, and around the world. I am delighted that Oxford will be hosting a very significant event relating to this technology.”
Ade Thomas, Executive Director at Green.TV, said: “We’re very excited to be working with Oxford City Council on, what is shaping up to be, the most significant event of its kind, here in the UK. The summit is focused on ‘actionable insights’ and is designed around business development, to commercially deliver on the rapid transition to electro mobility. The summit is very much about action, not words.”
To find out more about summit, please visit the Oxford Electric Vehicle Summit website.
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