Plug-in car grant take-up remains sluggish - latest figures
Fri 21 October 2011
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Take-up of the £5,000 plug-in car grant appears to be slowing according to the latest figures. Only 106 electric and plug-in cars were registered in the quarter to September, making a total of less than a thousand vehicles registered in the first three quarters since the scheme began.
The latest Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) figures show that after an initial take-up of 534 vehicles in the first three months of this year only 680 cars had been registered by July, and less than 800 by September.
The Guardian reports that the number of electric vehicles in the UK stands at just 1,107. The Government has earmarked £43m, or enough to support the purchase of about 8,600 cars, until March 2012. The scheme is due to be reviewed in January 2012.
The transport minister, Norman Baker, blamed a lack of choice for consumers. He responded to The Guardian: "It is nonsense to say the market has 'sputtered out'. The availability of qualifying cars, rather than the public appetite for them is part of the problem. I have every confidence that that will change in the next few months and we will begin to see sales of ultra-low carbon cars improve."
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