Electric car grant fails to switch on Scots motorists

Transport Correspondent

Thursday 21 July 2011

FEWER than 700 people have taken advantage of a Government grant to encourage the take-up of electric vehicles in its first six months of operation, underlining doubts about the green technology.

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DAMIEN HENDERSON Transport Correspondent

Between April and June, only 215 “ultra low emission” vehicles were purchased through the scheme, which has offered motorists £5000 towards the price, taking the total take-up since it started on January 1 to 680, according to Government figures.

The slow take-up has prompted renewed questions about how quickly the technology can solve the problem of rising carbon dioxide emissions in the transport sector as consumers are put off by high purchase costs, lack of charging infrastructure and “range anxiety”.But the figures coincided with more positive news for the industry as Chargemaster, a company specialising in electric vehicle infrastructure, said it would provide 4000 charging points across the UK by the end of 2012. It follows a decision by the UK Government earlier this month to abandon plans to install 9000 public charging points for electric vehicles by 2013, finding that the infrastructure would be expensive and potentially under-utilised as most motorists would charge their vehicles at home or at work.There are currently only five cars that qualify for the Government grant for vehicles emitting 75g of CO² per km or less, all of which are electric, though the grant scheme potentially allows for plug-in hybrid and hydrogen-fuelled cars to qualify.The cheapest of these, where prices are quoted by the Department for Transport, is the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, which will still set motorist back by £23,990. A further five ultra-low emission vehicles are due to reach the market by early next year, three of which are hybrids. Taking into account all 680 cars purchased under the programme, there are currently less than 2500 electric cars registered in the UK out of a car fleet of 28 million. The Government is thought to have spent £3.4 million in grants this year, against a budget of £43m by March 2012, when the scheme will be reviewed.The Department for Transport said the purchases so far represented a “step change” in the uptake of electric vehicles and that it was committed to providing grants for the duration of this Parliament.However, the RAC Foundation, which highlighted the figures yesterday, said they showed there was still a “mountain” to climb in order to make road transport green.Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the motoring thinktank, said: “Despite the lower fuel costs associated with electric cars, the high purchase price means it will take owners several years to reap the financial benefits of not choosing fossil-fuel powered vehicles. In the short term motorists will have to think long and hard about whether electric cars give better value for money than the best conventional and hybrid models.”Professor Glaister urged the UK Government to consider offering greater support for hybrid vehicles, of which there are 81,000 registered in the UK.In Scotland, Government agency Transport Scotland is working on plans to install 375 public charging points across central Scotland, targeting commuter journeys between Glasgow and Edinburgh.It has pointed to research in the US and Japan showing that around 80% of charging takes place at home or work, though separate research has raised doubts about home charging in Scotland’s biggest cities due to the low-level of off-street parking.

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Electric car grant fails to switch on Scots motorists

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