LowCVP

I am delighted to be here today - and to see so many people in the audience who share a determination to bring forward the development and use of low carbon vehicles and fuels.

We are surrounded by some stunning examples of technological advances in greener motoring.

They are a remarkable showcase of the work that is going on to allow us to reap the benefits, flexibility - and fun - of car ownership, but in a way that drastically cuts harm to our planet.

Some of these ideas – many developed here in the UK – are already in use. Others remain in development.

But all have the potential to make road transport more fuel-efficient and more environmentally friendly, saving motorists money and protecting our environment.

This is, of course, the goal of LowCVP, which marks its fifth anniversary this year.

It has already established itself – with the help of many of you here – as a leading player in the development of low carbon vehicles.

Like all five year olds, LowCVP remains full of energy and has the best years ahead of it.

I think this has become more and more apparent over the last few months.

Even back in 2003, the goal of taking road transport en masse down the path of low carbon alternatives such as electric, hybrid, or hydrogen cells, would have seemed to many people the stuff of dreams.

That vision has come an awful lot closer in the last 12 months, driven by inter-linked concerns over climate change, energy costs and energy security.

On climate change, we have seen a growing global political consensus – to match the near unanimity of the scientific community – on the urgent need to slash carbon emissions.

With road transport accounting for a quarter of UK’s total man-made carbon emissions – and the only major sector forecast to continue growing in the short term – we need a transformation in the way we move ourselves and goods around if we are to meet these goals.

So LowCVP – and those of you responsible for the research and ideas all around us – will have to be in the forefront of pushing forward the dramatic development of technology we will need in the coming decade.

Such a transport revolution – and indeed a revolution in the way we live and do business – has been given a new impetus by the soaring cost of oil.

In the space of a decade, we’ve witnessed oil go from $14 dollars a barrel to $140.

This is having a damaging impact on the world economy and families and businesses are feeling the squeeze across our country.

But the shock has, at least, brought home to everyone that the era of cheap oil is over and that we need to start finding alternatives now as well as ways to ensure we use the oil we have more efficiently.

We are seeing the results both in changes in consumer behaviour and in the incentives it gives to business to come up with alternatives.

In the United States, for example, Toyota has been unable to meet demand for its Prius and long waiting lists have been the norm.

Indeed, pretty well every other manufacturer has in development or production models that use hybrid, electric or other advanced low-carbon technologies.

But this is only the start as we can see from this motor show.

Driven by genuine concern for our planet and changing consumer needs and priorities, the industry is putting huge effort into producing vehicles powered largely or solely by electricity or by other fuels which practically eradicate CO2 emissions from cars.

Some electric vehicles are already, of course, on our roads, but it now seems that mass production may be only years away.

And in tandem with this, we are seeing similar effort being focused on how to establish the recharging and battery replacement infrastructure that is needed to help replace petrol and diesel powered vehicles.

There are, of course, still major obstacles – such as the life of batteries – to overcome, but also huge opportunities for our economy if we can get this right.

We are world leaders in automotive design engineering, which is already offering the potential for us to play a major role in the development and production of low carbon vehicles.

The Government is determined to play its part in encouraging world-class research and help to bring fresh ideas to manufacture – because this is also a tremendous opportunity for our businesses and our country.

And it was to discuss the support needed that the Prime Minister, John Hutton and I had a meeting yesterday with industry leaders and experts.

It was, as you might expect when electric vehicles were on the agenda, an illuminating meeting.

We heard from vehicle manufacturers and the energy industry what we need do to make this low carbon future a reality.

We heard, too, about the Project Better Place scheme in Israel and Denmark that matches the mass production of electric vehicles with a nationwide re-charging network – and from our own electricity industry about the obstacles and opportunities of putting such a network in place here.

The Government, of course, already offers tax benefits to motorists to go electric, as well as providing £90 million to support and strengthen R&D into electric and other low carbon vehicle technology.

But we are determined to do all we can to promote the switch to low carbon vehicles and make sure that this country stays at the forefront of their development and manufacture.

That’s why, for example, we have commissioned CENEX and Arup to come up with recommendations for how we can make sure we achieve these goals – and I hope as many of you as possible will contribute to the study.

We have also promised to review planning issues that might hold back the building of re-charging infrastructure.

The King review made clear it is possible for electricity to have replaced oil as the major energy source for road transport by 2050 – a move which, as we de-carbonise electricity production, would help us meet our goals for a massive cut in carbon emissions.

But it is not just through R&D investment that the Government can help encourage the changes we need to see. We can also do so by giving a lead in what we buy.

So we have just launched a competitive procurement process to trial low-carbon and all-electric vans for the public sector.

The programme, being managed by CENEX, can both help us meet our target to cut emissions in the public sector but also help promote the production and use of green vehicles.

And there are many other ways that the changes we need to see are being encouraged.

I think one of the greatest successes so far of LowCVP – and proof of the success of the partnership approach – has been the introduction of the colour-coded new car fuel economy label.

This allows motorists to check and compare fuel economy and carbon emissions very easily when buying a new car.

Through the Act on CO2 and What Car "Best in Class" rankings, we are also helping the motorist identify the cars with the lowest CO2 emissions in each class.

These are important advances, particularly as a recent RAC Report showed that half of motorists would carefully consider CO2 emissions when buying a car.

I know that we are now also working closely with the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, to publish CO2 emissions in a way that would also be useful to van drivers.

We’re doing a lot of work in all these areas, as can be seen at the Act on CO2 stand we’re sponsoring here at the Show today, as well as through the initiatives we’re taking forward with the Energy Saving Trust to make people aware of the cost and carbon benefits they can gain by altering their travel behaviour.

LowCVP has also contributed to my Department's efforts to ensure the biofuels we use in this country come from sustainable sources.

This is vitally important if the use of biofuels in our vehicles is to help – as the Gallagher review showed it could – not hinder our battle against climate change.

We also need to continue with the progress we have already made in reducing the emissions of petrol and diesel driven vehicles.

We believe that the further reductions in EU emission levels this Government is pushing for – to reach 100 g/km across Europe by 2020 – will give industry the incentive to develop technology to produce further cuts. And we are already examining options for further reductions in the future.

We have also recently consulted on how our investment in buses can act as a green incentive to encourage the take-up of low carbon buses.

It is not Government's job to tell people how to travel. It is our job to help them make informed choices - and to ensure that their journeys can be made safely, reliably and with minimal environmental impact.

The greater freedom and flexibility of movement we now enjoy thanks to the much greater ownership of cars is one of the benefits of modern life.

The challenge is to keep the benefits, while reducing the damage road transport can cause our environment.

There have, as I am sure many of you know, been false dawns in the past for electric cars and low carbon vehicles.

But with high oil prices and rapid technological development, the conditions are now ripe for real change.

We just need to show the vision and commitment to seize the opportunities now in front of us.

By working together, I am confident we will.

(This speech represented existing departmental policy but the words may not have been the same as those used by the Minister.)