The new government is set to support the introduction of a new charging infrastructure, it has been revealed today.
Following the announcement that Conservative MP Phil Hammond will lead the new Department for Transport as part of the coalition government (see story), it has been revealed that the Tory/Lib Dem alliance is set to promote the use of electric cars in the UK.
No exact figure of the investment into the recharging infrastructure has yet been announced but it is known that both the Tories and the Liberal Democrats support the idea of encouraging a market for electric cars. Throughout their pre-election campaigns, both parties talked of the role electric cars would play in their vision of UK’s transport future and now the new Government, led by the PM David Cameron, has confirmed that a recharging infrastructure will be built to support their use.
The planned £5,000 subsidies for electric cars -announced under the Labour government and set to be introduced in January 2011-are also expected to still go ahead, although nothing has yet been confirmed.
The old Labour government also planned that electric cars should be exempt from company car tax for the next five years while cars emitting under 75g/km of CO2 should pay a reduced rate of 5 per cent. It is hoped that the new Government will retain these incentives despite the need to raise tax revenues.
