Cap on British electric car grant ‘unnecessary’

Business secretary Vince Cable may feel that his decision to reduce the £230m pledged for Britain’s forthcoming ‘Plug-in electric car grant’ to £43m was unnecessary following the news this week that the Spanish government has paid a similar grant to only 16 drivers this year.

If the offer of grants from the British government is received in as lacklustre a way as the Spanish scheme the cost will be less than £140,000 in the first year.

The poor sales are a setback for Spain’s plans to have 2,000 new electric cars on its roads by the end of 2010.

The Spanish government offers a cash incentive of up to 6,000 euros to buyers of electric cars as part of £500m programme to promote and develop the electric car industry.

The Spanish government-back REVE electric car and wind power project reacted to the poor sales by saying: “The figures are similar to what happened in the beginning with personal computers or mobile phones…The first models are expensive and with few options and initial sales low.”

A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) said: “Citroën, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Peugeot and Renault are among the manufacturers with electric cars close to production, but until these vehicles are able to compete on their merits grants are unlikely to have a significant effect.”