Car buyers are to be offered a bribe of up to £5,000 to buy an electric car from 2011, according to several sources this morning.
The plans are part of the Government’s low carbon transport plan, but will also require big investment in infrastructure, such as charging points, if they are to work. Current electric cars have limited range and require long charges, but it is thought that by 2011 the electric cars in production will be a more viable proposition. The problem is however, that these cars are initially expected to be very expensive, and so this scheme is designed to kickstart their use.
It will be interesting to see if this scheme does stimulate the sales of these cars – I guess it will largely depend on their cost – £5k off a £10k car would definitely be an incentice, but £5k off a £40k car won’t make that much difference to many.
It will also depend on what’s happening in the economy as a whole. One would hope that by 2011 we would be well on our way out of the current recession, but if for some reason we’re not, people may still not be buying cars full stop.
And the car makers will be looking for some more immediate measures to help their industry, with the much rumoured car scrapping scheme (where drivers of old cars are incentivised to buy brand new cars) being one possible measure, which may be announced in the coming Budget.
photo credit: jurvetson