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Government to offer up to £5000 subsidy for buying electr

Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 7:08 am
by hailstorm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8001254.stm

Motorists will be offered subsidies of up to £5,000 to encourage them to buy electric and hybrid cars under plans announced by the government.
It is part of the government's £250m plan to promote low carbon transport over the next five years.
But ministers do not expect the cars to hit the showrooms until 2011.
Meanwhile, Chancellor Alistair Darling is expected to reveal an incentive scheme for motorists to trade old cars in for new ones in next week's Budget.

'Untapped potential'

"Less than 0.1% of the UK's 26 million cars are electric, so there is a huge untapped potential to reduce emissions," said Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon.
The strategy also includes plans to provide £20m for charging points and other necessary infrastructure.
The government is also expected to announce a car scrappage scheme in the Budget on 22 April.
This will provide £2,000 for car owners to trade in their old cars to buy new ones.
The plan is designed to boost demand for new cars and help struggling carmakers who are suffering during the recession.
Similar schemes have proved successful in continental Europe. In Germany, for example, car sales increased by 40% in March compared with a year earlier.

Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:33 pm
by MaryRCrumpton
Definitely good news :D

I have had 2 radio stations and a TV programme on the phone to me already so far today asking for my comment!

Vive La Revolution :wink:

Mary.

Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:38 pm
by RoundhillRob
Let's get real. Another quote from the same news item:

"The big problem is that the next generation of electric cars will initially be very expensive to make - manufacturers say about double the price of a petrol car"


Look at the G-Wiz L-ion version, asking price nearly £16,000. Or the Tesla Roadster, about £88,000. Or the Lightning GT, where the battery alone (according to Wikipedia) costs roughly £50,000. What difference would the odd few thousand make to your purchasing decision for one of these cars? Nothing whatsoever; if you're going to buy one, it will not be for low-cost reasons.

Also, bear in mind that the same news item says that few cars will be available to qualify for this cash grant until 2011, so it's no skin off this Government's nose to commit to a future cost which they won't be around to have to meet. 8) A bit of cheap publicity, to divert attention from a few obnoxious emails?

Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:49 pm
by MaryRCrumpton
New technologies are *always* expensive though. A few people, the so-called 'early adopters' buy them, and gradually over time the technology beomes cheaper. There are advances in battery technology happening all the time too. It isn't going to happen overnight, but still, anything that gets people taking an interest in EVs is generally good in my book.

To agree with you in part however, I am certainly more interested in the plans for charging points than I am in the offer of a couple of grand off the price of something in 2011 though - as you suggest, you wouldn't notice it off the price of a Tesla.

Charging points and infrastructure is, in my opinion, where more efforts need to be focussed at present.

Mary.

Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 2:24 pm
by MB
By the same token, what about the Quiet Car 2 at around £13,000. With a £5,000 subsidy that makes it a Fiesta-sized car at less than Fiesta-sized price.

Or a G-Wiz i at £7999 - with a £5000 rebate they'll be coming free with your cornflakes.

What is really concerning me is that the Government is making this announcement now, but they're not planning to offer the subsidy for almost two years.

In effect, what they're doing is killing the current electric car industry dead because they're going to stop people from buying now as they wait for cheaper cars in two years time. What is the point of that other than to provide some cheap political points?

What does this do for LDV and their electric van? Nothing. If anything, it hammers another nail in the coffin. What about the new Reva? What about British car manufacturer Stevens Vehicles? The Government is actually putting UK jobs and businesses on the line in order to look good but do very little of any real substance at all.

Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 2:30 pm
by retepsnikrep
Good Points MB. Pretty depressing though :cry:

Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 2:54 pm
by microman
Don't overlook the 'up to' bit. There's no chance you'll get $5k off a G-Wiz.

Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 3:02 pm
by ChrisB
SaintMaryUK wrote:New technologies are *always* expensive though.


So EV's are "new technologies" now :?

Me thinks not :twisted:

EV's have been about for YEARS, I've got brochures going back to the 60's for electric vehicles so you cant tell me its a new technology :lol:

When I heard about the 5K curved ball they flung I thought straight away whos going to buy what with that, theres only really the G-Wiz thats a viable drivable buy it now EV on the market currently.

And as they say it will only be on their "selected" EV's/ Plugins and I suspect it will be like all the other grants that .gov shout from the house roof tops, like solar and wind etc , the chances of you actually getting one is eleventy billion to one and even then you'll have to buy the vehicle from their certified specialized EV vehicle seller who will be flogging EV's for twice the amount anyway :roll:

As RHR says its all smoke and mirrors to take the heat off a few dodgy e-mails :wink:

Move away from the news story.......nothing to see here :lol:

ChrisB

Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 3:03 pm
by ChrisB
microman wrote:Don't overlook the 'up to' bit. There's no chance you'll get $5k off a G-Wiz.


Yeah whats the betting it will be £5 off a G-Wizz :cry:

ChrisB

Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 4:26 pm
by MB
At the moment, it is still a lot of speculation. There has been no official announcement as yet, all we've had so far is leaks.

However, what does concern me is that the Government have announced the plans now, but won't give any subsidies for two years.

So what does that mean for the suppliers and manufacturers out there now? Basically, they're risking killing off the whole electric car industry as it currently stands because everyone will be sitting on the fence rather than buying the electric cars they currently can buy.

I would like to make sure that doesn't happen. So I'm setting up a petition for number 10 to ask for the subsidies now and encouraging people to write to their MP.

If you want to e-mail your MP, there is a link here to explain what to do and giving you some idea of what you can write:

http://gwiz.myfastforum.org/about2374.html&highlight=