eaton
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
FEATURE
buzz ELECTRIC
While there are still few electric vehicles on UK roads, improvements to public charging infrastructure could be one of the catalysts for that to change. So is EV about to take off? Phil Lattimore investigates
www.britishparking.co.uk
W
ould you consider switching to an electric vehicle (EV) next time you’re shopping for a
new car? At the moment you may think it unlikely, but interest – and investment – in the sector is growing. While it’s still rare in the UK to see an EV driving down our roads, in our car parks or on our kerbsides, there are an increasing number of models being introduced by major manufactures. Over the next 18 months, around 29 new EVs from the likes of Renault, Ford, BMW and Toyota are set to arrive in the nation’s showrooms – promising more choice for consumers at a lower overall cost than ever before. But numbers being sold are still extremely
low. Despite the UK government last year introducing a Plug-in Car Grant subsidy of 25 per cent of the cost up to £5,000 per electric vehicle, EV registrations totalled only 1,082 for the whole of 2011– just 0.06 per cent of the total car market, according to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Announcing the grant, the then-transport minister Philip Hammond suggested that ‘2011 could be remembered as the year the electric car took off’. It wasn’t.
JUNE 2012 23
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