A letter from a consortium of carmakers warns the UK government that a failure to confirm electric car subsidies will jeopardise the switch to greener cars, reports The Guardian.
According to the national newspaper, Mitsubishi, Nisssan, Peugeot and Citroen have written a joint letter to the business secretary Vince Cable and transport secretary Philip Hammond warning that "without the incentives, the UK will become a significantly less attractive market" to the electric car manufacturers.
It reads: "As businesses, we will target the markets that provide the best environment for selling our vehicles. The emergency budget made no specific reference to supporting low-carbon vehicle incentives and has therefore left our businesses uncertain of the government’s position."
Last week Transport Secretary, Philip Hammond said that it is likely that there would be a grant for buyers of electric and plug-in hybrids, although he could not confirm if it would match the £5,000 promised by the former Labour government (see story).
The companies, which all plan to launch mass-market electric cars in the UK by next year, said the vehicles were of "critical importance" to the growth of new green jobs. Accordingly the climate and energy secretary, Chris Huhne, has said such posts were central to government job-creation plans.
Electric cars are also central to Government plans to cut the country’s carbon emissions to meet legally-binding targets.
Cutting the grant for electric cars would hit of Nissan’s all-electric Leaf model. The carmaker is currently planning to manufacture its electric Leaf model at its plant in Sunderland from 2013. Currently around 4,000 people are employed at the North East factory.
Mitsubishi will retail its i-MiEV electric car model in the UK from January 2011-when the grants were scheduled to be introduced. Peugeot and Citroen likewise will introduce their electric car models from next year, both of which based on the i-MiEV.
The Government has still yet to confirm details of potential grants for electric cars and refused to comment on any timescale for incentives to the sector.
