Mitsubishi’s i-MiEV: trialling in West Midlands
By Andrew Davis, director, Environmental Transport Association
THE five year suspension of company car tax for electric vehicles (EVs) announced in the Pre-Budget Report (December 09) is one of a number of incentives needed if electric cars are to realise their potential on British roads.
Currently there are approximately 2,600 electric vehicles on British roads, a figure that represents 0.01% of the total number of cars on our roads. But, according to research carried out by the Department for Transport (DfT), by 2030 there could be as many as 5.8 million EVs in this country.
However, if current incentives are left in place and no additional action is taken they forecast that there could be as few as 500,000.
So if EVs are ever to compete on equal terms with petrol and diesel-engined cars, in the short to medium term there need to be incentives for car makers to build and drivers to buy EVs drivers to buy electric vehicles.
Incentives to buy electric cars
Why buy an electric car? The following are good incentives
