Here’s a selection of industry comments following the news of the ‘up to £5000’ grant for purchasing a qualifying electric car from January 2011 announced today by the Government.
Starting with our own editor, Faye Sunderland:
“This support is essential to help the UK move towards a low carbon future. We are now reliant on the carmakers to ensure that the eligible vehicles are available to consumers when the grants come available next year.
“The Plugged-in Places scheme is crucial to sustain the use of eligible vehicles so we hope to see this make significant impact on how our towns and cities prepare for the electric car revolution set to start in 2011.”
Mitsubishi Motors UK’s Managing Director, Lance Bradley, commented: “We are thrilled with this news, particularly as it coincides with the opening of the Mitsubishi Electric Vehicle Centre in Central London. We are now accepting customer orders for the i-MiEV with deliveries for January 2011. In addition, we are delighted with the successful Plugged in Places outcome, which will lead the way in infrastructure development, and we are a confirmed consortium partner with London.”
BVRLA chief executive, John Lewis comments: “Business fleets already buy more than half of all cars registered each year so it makes sense that they will be able to take advantage of this incentive. A discount of up to £5,000 is attractive, but buyers are not stupid. Fleets will need some assurance that the electric vehicle they are buying will have a second-hand value in three, six or even ten years’ time. The three-year battery warranty outlined in the DfT’s qualification criteria is a bare minimum requirement so we are pleased that buyers will have to be given the option of paying for an extended 5-year warranty.”
The Electric Car Corporation (ECC) Chief Executive David Martell commented: “This is a positive commitment the government has made towards stimulating the electric car market. It is undoubtedly the only way UK motorists will be persuaded to change their motoring habits and give up their petrol cars.”
Paul Willcox, Managing Director at Nissan Motor (GB) Ltd, comments: “We welcome the announcement that the government is to incentivise sales of electric vehicles. These incentives will bring electric vehicle ownership within reach of UK motorists and make cars like the Nissan Leaf a financially viable alternative to conventional petrol and diesel-powered cars.”
Lawrence Berns, CEO at Axeon, the lithium-ion battery systems supplier: "It is very encouraging to see the UK government helping to create an early market for the next generation of ultra-low emissions vehicles. We are confident that the effect will be to make these new technologies more accessible and ultimately more competitive. The ‘Plug-In Car Grant’ will not only be of benefit to consumers, but we believe it will also help to develop UK’s supply chain for new vehicle technologies with the potential to deliver significant emissions reductions. Axeon believes that the UK can become a global leader in automotive low carbon technologies by developing our existing capabilities.”
