10:09am Thursday 29th July 2010
By Nigel Burton
THE Government hopes its £5,000 incentive will jumpstart the UK market for electric cars.
Without the cash subsidy cars like the Nissan Leaf, the Vauxhall Ampera and the Mitsubishi i-MiEV will be too expensive to make much of an impact.
The lithium ion battery packs that these cars use are hideously expensive. The Leaf will cost £28,350 – a conventional Focus Econetic has a showroom price of £19,640 and a hybrid like the Toyota Prius costs £18,333.
Thanks to its use of air rather than expensive liquid cooling, the Leaf’s 24 kilowatt- hour lithium ion battery pack is the lowest priced of any electric vehicle – but it still costs an eye-watering £6,000.
The batteries used in most other electric cars cost two or three times as much.
That’s why buyers in the US will soon be able to claim a $7,500 rebate on their low carbon cars and their Canadian cousins will receive a cheque for $8,500.
Regardless of the incentives, without a nationwide charging network, initial sales are likely to be modest.
But offering cash incentives is a clear indication to car manufacturers that the UK is serious about electric vehicle technology. As well as encouraging early adopters to turn over a fresh Leaf it should also help secure the Ampera for Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port plant, rather than a factory in Germany (which has opted out of the whole subsidy idea).
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