Government approves £5k grant for buying electric cars

GravyMonster

GravyMonster

GravyMonster

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The grant, confirmed today by transport secretary Philip Hammond, will launch in January 2011 and offers up to £5000 towards motorists buying an electric, plug-in hybrid or hydrogen fuel cell car.

Speaking at the SMMT, Hammond said, “The coalition government is absolutely committed to low carbon growth, tackling climate change and making our energy supply more secure.

“We are sending a clear signal that Britain is open for business and that we are committed to greening our economy. This will ensure that the UK is a world leader in low emission vehicles.”

SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt said Britain was now well placed to lead in the emerging market for ultra-low carbon vehicles.

The UK is well placed to exploit the global opportunities in the transition to low carbon technologies and is already making significant progress through R&D, the low carbon supply chain and vehicle manufacturing.

“The Automotive Council has set some ambitious objectives and today's announcement is an important step in helping to attract new investment and laying the foundations for thousands of new high-skill jobs.”
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Encouraging the use of electric/hydrogen/whatever vehicles when there is little in the way of infrastructure to support them is IMO pointless.

The article doesn't say how much has been allocated for the grants, but surely this is money that could be better spent elsewhere? Fixing potholes would be nice for starters.

Also, I wonder if the grant applies to Teslas? :D
 
Good to see.

Fair enough, the infrastructure does not currently exist - yet. But grants and subsidies are the way to get the infrastructure built.
 
Without demand the supply will not be.. er, supplied.

It's a chicken vs egg scenario, and without some form of subsidy for either party it will remain a stalemate.
 
Err weren't they saying a few months ago that our power stations are unable to cope with current electrical demands and that some areas of the UK will start seeing black outs at peak times by 2015?

So what is plugging in a load of extra battery chargers to the National Grid going to do?
 
NathanE said:
Err weren't they saying a few months ago that our power stations are unable to cope with current electrical demands and that some areas of the UK will start seeing black outs at peak times by 2015?

So what is plugging in a load of extra battery chargers to the National Grid going to do?
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I would imagine capacity is only going to be hit at peak times in the shortterm (Half-time on world cup final etc). I would think pricing for charging a car to be variable depending on the time of day as soon as enough people have them to make an impact on the grid.
 
NathanE said:
So what is plugging in a load of extra battery chargers to the National Grid going to do?
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a) Offer a big bank of load buffering for peak loads.
b) charge off peak so the on peak brown outs remain un affected?
c) promote more investment in power production for a product that will grow at a slow and predictable rate.
 
ATM it is pointless.

However if there was a £7k electric car that was design purposely for driving 30 or so miles to work and back, and a 1 or 2 short journeys to shops per day without a recharge so say min 100miles. As well as free Mot if you have a petrol car mot'd at the same time. They would also have to do something with insurance. Then it would be great.

That way you could charge car at home and use it all week, then jump in your petrol car when needed.

NathanE said:
Err weren't they saying a few months ago that our power stations are unable to cope with current electrical demands and that some areas of the UK will start seeing black outs at peak times by 2015?

So what is plugging in a load of extra battery chargers to the National Grid going to do?
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yep but they have been saying this since the early 90's probably before. Companies are still bringing new stuff on line and hopefully we will have new nuclear plants within 15 years.
Also the take up will be small anyway.
 
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So where is all this electricity going to be generated from then? Burning more fossil fuels? Yeah, that's a step in the right direction. :rolleyes:

They'd be better suited getting a renewable energy network underway.
 
skippi90 said:
So where is all this electricity going to be generated from then? Burning more fossil fuels? Yeah, that's a step in the right direction. :rolleyes:

They'd be better suited getting a renewable energy network underway.
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You forgetting nuclear?
 
Chumps will make use of this 'fantastic' offer and fuel will likely increase for the rest of us because of a drop in standard fuel sales no?

Alternative energy generation is the way forward, this is backward.
 
Takeup of this grant?

Some people said the scrappage scheme would not take off either though.
 
skippi90 said:
I was under the impression that the preference was renewable.
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Only in the hippie world, who have no clue what they are talking about. Who then go on to say we can't have wind turbines or the severn barrage or anything else.

Nuclear is far more desirable than renewable, for a hole host of reasons.
 
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