UK government announces subsidies of £5000 for electric vehicles

Posted by Jacob

April 17, 2009

The announcement has come that the British government will introduce a scheme that will subsidize the purchase of electric vehicles. The scheme which is said to subsidies up to £5000 towards the cost of the car will be put into place over the next five years.

They expect EV’s to hit the showrooms in 2011 and companies such as Smart are fueling for demand by jointly releasing a press statement for their new Smart ed, which is currently on trial with several companies on a lease basis. Other contenders are the Mini E which, due to its rather large battery packs only seats 2 but obviously better looking than the Smart.

Even JJAD creators of the future Supercar P1-E have had a thing or two to say about the governments new plans, all good obviously. The British Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon said that “Cutting road transport CO2 emissions is a key element in tackling climate change. Less than 0.1% of the UK’s 26 million cars are electric, so there is a huge untapped potential to reduce emissions.”

The British Government has pledged almost £400 million in support of development and uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles; this doesn’t include the £2.3 billion package for the automotive companies’ bailout. The chart below outlines the time lines of transition to more effective modes of transport in the near future. Continue reading for the rest of the report.