DfT figures show only 215 electric vehicle grants issued in last three months, fewer than half number issued in quarter before
Sales of electric cars have all but stalled, despite government grants to encourage an electric revolution to cut emissions from burning petrol and diesel.
Figures from the Department for Transport show that only 215 electric vehicle grants were issued in the last three months, fewer than half the 465 issued in the previous quarter.
The figures were obtained by the research charity the RAC Foundation, which said the latest sales take the total number of battery-powered cars in the UK to just over 2,500, out of a fleet of more than 28m vehicles – a long way short of the 1.7m electric vehicles set as a target for the end of the decade by the government's Committee on Climate Change.
Andrew Fulbrook of market research firm IHS Automotive said that despite generous government grants of £5,000 for each electric car and van, the cost of new electric vehicles was still too high at £20,000-25,000, the choice too narrow, and the spread of charging points too slow to overcome "range anxiety" by drivers worried they will run out of battery power before they get home.
However, Fulbrook said that – partly pushed by stricter European Union limits on car emissions starting next year – manufacturers are planning more electric models, which will bring down prices, while charging points are growing.
"In the next 24 to 36 months those stars will probably align: then we'll really know at that point if the electric vehicle market in the UK is a goer," he added.
Longer term, the EU is debating a further strict cut to emissions from 2020, which would force manufacturers to design and market even more very low emission models, such as electric cars.
However, Professor Stephen Glaister, the director of the RAC Foundation, said the government and industry should also keep developing hybrid vehicles, which run on both batteries and petrol or diesel fuel. The foundation says there are currently 81,000 hybrid vehicles in the UK.
"It seems clear that if we want to see significant reductions in the carbon emissions of personal vehicles in the short to medium term then we would do well to concentrate as much on already proven hybrid technology as anything else," said Glaister.
The DfT said: "Relative to the number of electric cars registered in previous years, the numbers bought over the last six months represent a step change. We expect uptake to increase as more vehicles come to market – for example the new Renault Fluence has just become eligible for the grant. And last week's announcement from Chargemaster on 4000 charging points across the country is a clear sign of the private sector getting the bit between its teeth to support this new market as well."
Last month, the government urged more homes and businesses to install charging points, as it backpedaled on a previous promise to lead a nationwide rollout, saying the points would be "underutilised and uneconomic".
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jul/25/electric-car-sales-slow-grants
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