Economical driving with Go Ultra Low

Five major car companies are operating under Go Ultra Low, with the aim of encouraging drivers to consider ultra low emission vehicles

Imagine Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham coming together to design a lighter, more efficient football for the Premiership. Yes, exactly. It’s not often in the super-heated glasshouse of the global car industry that you see competitive brands unite for the common good.

Team players: BMW, Nissan, Renault, Toyota and Vauxhall are campaigning for drivers to go ultra low

And yet BMW, Nissan, Renault, Toyota and Vauxhall have done just that. The new football in question is the Go Ultra Low campaign, a 12-month project in conjunction with the Government, with one uniting aim: to encourage drivers to consider ultra low emission vehicles.

The five car companies in question wanted one voice, so they are acting under the umbrella of Go Ultra Low.

The campaign encourages car buyers to consider the benefits of ultra low emission cars – pure electric, plug-in hybrid and extended-range vehicles – with information about their low running costs, ease of charging and impressive range.

The website, GoUltraLow.com, provides a one-stop shop for information about owning and running one of these vehicles, the makes and models available, the locations of the thousands of publicly available charge-points and includes quick links to the five manufacturers to book a test drive.

In the last three years alone, over 20 electric and plug-in cars and vans have been launched in the UK. With low driving costs from 2p a mile and plug-in hybrid vehicles capable running up to 700 miles and the average UK journey being only seven miles, Go Ultra Low asks drivers: “What are you waiting for?”

London to Brighton or Manchester to Liverpool can now be done for £1 and with low emissions of less than 75g of CO2 per km. So far this year, more and more motorists have taken the step towards going ultra low as registrations of these cars have nearly tripled.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said: “Some of the country’s leading automotive brands are pooling resources with Government to encourage more car buyers to consider going ultra-low.

We want the Go Ultra Low campaign to help the public understand how these new cars work, their benefits and capabilities, and how they could be a perfect fit for their personal, business or fleet needs.”

To support the existing home and business charging network where the majority of charging is done, the Government has so far this year unveiled nearly £42m of investment in additional infrastructure.

The investment includes millions for new rapid charge-points that can fully recharge an ultra low emission vehicle in 30 minutes. These will be in towns and on major roads where there has been a historic lack of charge-points, creating a UK-wide network of over 500 rapid charge-points by 2015.

Half a million pounds has gone into providing more charge-points at train station car parks, making it easier for commuters and other rail users to cut the environmental impact of their whole journey. Grants of £2.9 million have also been awarded to public sector organisations so that they can install more than 450 charge-points on their own estate for their staff, fleets and visitors.

The Government has also committed to investing £5 million to introduce electric vehicles across government and wider public sector fleets this year.

It’s time everyone got involved in the debate – it’s you, the motorist, who holds the answers.

Do you know which brands have Go Ultra Low models? Are premium-badged electric cars or cheaper models the answer? Are your concerns about the price tag, the range, or the lack of charge-points and are these concerns still real? Visit GoUltraLow.com and you’ll find the answers you need in the sort of user-friendly site we’ve been waiting for to make informed decisions.

There may be an array of technology and funny terms out there to describe things, but there’s no point sticking your head in the sand any longer.

Ultra Low emission cars are here now attracting great reviews. The Government wants the UK to be a world leader in ultra low emission cars and is aiming for every new vehicle to be ultra low by 2040.

So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to go ultra low.

By Erin Baker
Managing director, Motoring (Telegraph Motoring)
12:20PM BST 06 May 2014